From The Times (UK)
December 23, 1999
Submitted by Robin Jones
HANK SNOW
Hank Snow, country singer, died in Madison, Tennessee, on December 20 aged
85. He was born in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 1914
COUNTRY music's "Singing Ranger", Hank Snow was one the most flamboyant,
successful and enduring figures of his genre. Over the course of half- a
century, he had more than 80 hit singles in the country charts. He also
recorded some 80 albums, which together sold more than 70 million copies.
He was famed for his expressive baritone, broad range, formidable
guitar-playing and ability to infuse his music with mambo or jazz or blues
without diluting its essential country feel. He was, perhaps most of all,
renowned for his striking appearance, in his rhinestone and sequin-studded
suits and legendary ill-fitting toupees.
His lyrics celebrated freedom and travel, often necessitated by the need to
flee failed love. This recurring theme stemmed from Snow's own life, itself
reminiscent of a country song: born in a small village, he endured family
brutality before embarking on a journey from which he emerged triumphant.
He was born Clarence Eugene Snow in the fishing village of Brooklyn, Nova
Scotia. When he was eight, his parents separated, sending him off to a cruel
grandmother. He ran away to his mother, only now to be the focus of his
hard-drinking stepfather's uncontrollable violence. At 12 he found work as a
cabin boy on Arctic fishing schooners, where he would entertain crews with
his singing. After being shipwrecked he decided to return to land, where he
found inspiration in the music of the country blues yodeler Jimmie Rodgers.
He began singing in local clubs and bars, and for a Halifax radio station,
styling himself the Yodeling Ranger (when his voice deepened, he became the
Singing Ranger). He also took good advice from a radio station announcer who
suggested that Hank, not Clarence, was a plausible name for a Country
singer.
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Snow signed a record contract in 1936, and over the next ten years had a
string of hits in Canada. In the mid-1940s he left for Hollywood, where he
tried to make good as a movie cowboy, singing and performing with his trick
pony.
He secured an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry in January 1950. It was a
forgettable performance, though success came to him later that year, when
I'm Movin' On reached No 1 in the country charts. The song, about boarding a
train to leave a lover, spent 21 weeks in the top spot and has since been
recorded in 36 languages.
He built on this chart-topping success with Golden Rocket and Rhumba Boogie. In total, he spent 45 years with RCA records, enjoying seven No 1 hits in
the country charts, the last of them being Hello Love in 1974, when he was
60.
In 1954 Snow - a shrewd enough businessman - met Colonel Tom Parker, the
future manager of Elvis Presley. Together Snow and Parker formed a company
promoting acts. He persuaded the Grand Ole Opry to book Presley that year.
Presley later recorded music by Snow, as did other stars including Ray
Charles, Emmylou Harris and the Rolling Stones.
In Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville, Henry Gibson played a self-obsessed
country star loosely based on Snow, who was known for his sometimes
irritable disposition. Besides this, his toupee became the source of great
mirth for many; some even thought he wore it off-centre deliberately. Legend
has it that on one occasion on stage a fiddler removed it with his bow as a
joke and Snow sacked him on the spot.
Hank Snow was abruptly dropped by RCA in 1981, though he continued to
perform live, returning to the Grand Ole Opry in 1995. The year before that
he had published his autobiography, The Hank Snow Story. In 1978 Snow formed
an international foundation which campaigns for the prevention of child
abuse.
He is survived by his wife, Minnie Alders Snow, and their son, the Rev.
Jimmie Rodgers Snow, named after Hank Snow's idol.
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