Red Foley

Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968) was a country music singer.

Foley was born in Blue Lick, Kentucky. He began playing the guitar and the harmonica as a young boy and at age seventeen he won first prize in a statewide talent show. Ultimately he signed with Decca Records in 1941. His hit songs include Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy, "Birmingham Bounce", "Old Shep", "Sugarfoot Rag", and "Tennessee Saturday Night". "Peace in the Valley", backed up by The Sunshine Boys, in 1951 became the first gospel record to sell a million copies, and "One By One", a duet with Kitty Wells, became a chart topper in 1954.[citation needed]In the 1960s he also had a hit dance record with square dancers from that era known as "The Salty Dog Rag".

For more than two decades, Foley was a major star of country music, selling in excess of twenty-five million records. He hosted the popular Ozark Jubilee television program between 1955 and 1960. During 1962-63, Foley was a regular cast member along with Fess Parker in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a television series based on the famous movie.

Red Foley was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967. For his contribution to the music industry, Red Foley also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6225 Hollywood Blvd.

He died unexpectedly in 1968 in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the age of fifty-eight from a heart attack. He is interred in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville.

1 Family
2 Dartmouth College connection
3 External links
4 See also
5 References

Family

His daughter from his second marriage to Judy Martin (née Eva Alaine Overstake) is Shirley Lee Foley, who has been married to actor/singer Pat Boone since 1953. Shirley and Pat's daughters are Cherry, Lindy, Laury and singer Debby Boone.

Dartmouth College connection

A dance to Red Foley's song "The Salty Dog Rag" has been traditional at Dartmouth College since 1972, where it is taught to incoming freshman during orientation activities.[1] The dance is believed to originate from The Putney School, and is also performed at the YMCA Sandy Island Camp in Lake Winnipesaukee.

External links

References

^ Class of 2010: Traditions

Rumble, John. (1998). "Red Foley". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music." Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 176.

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