Rusty Draper

Fifties hit singer

Farrell "Rusty" Draper, singer: born Kirksville, Missouri 25 January 1923; twice married (one son, one daughter); died Bellevue, Washington 28 March 2003.

Rusty Draper enjoyed meteoric success in the mid-1950s, straddling both the pop and country charts with million-selling hits like "Gambler's Guitar" and "Shifting Whispering Sands" before largely fading from view.

Farrell Draper, known as "Rusty" because of his red hair, was given his first guitar at the age of 10 and within two years was performing regularly on his uncle's radio show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His family led a nomadic existence – he attended 18 different high schools – and he worked on radio stations in Des Moines, Idaho, where he sometimes deputised for a sports announcer and would-be actor called Ronald Reagan, and in Quincy, Illinois, before finally settling in California.

He worked briefly for Western Union, later recalling the thrill of having to deliver telegrams to the film star Dorothy Lamour, and then headed to San Francisco, where he began to sing in local clubs. His growing popularity saw him move to Hermie King's Rumpus Room, where he remained a fixture for seven years, and he appeared on television alongside established stars such as Patti Page, Ed Sullivan and Eddie Cantor.

In 1952 he signed with Mercury Records, enjoying a minor hit the following year with "No Help Wanted" before striking gold in summer 1953 with Jim Lowe's "Gambler's Guitar". A rare crossover success, it made No 6 on both the country and pop charts and sold upwards of a million copies.

In 1955 he had a pop hit with "Seventeen" and later that same year released his version of "Shifting Whispering Sands". Despite its western flavour it failed to ignite the interest of country radio but did make it to No 3 on the pop charts, selling a million copies in the process. He had further US pop hits with "Are You Satisfied?" (1955), "In the Middle of the House" (1956) and the skiffle standard "Freight Train" (1957). In 1960 his version of the vintage Jimmie Rodgers blue yodel "Muleskinner Blues" became his only chart entry on this side of the Atlantic.

In 1963, and by now signed to Monument Records, he made his final appearance on the pop charts, his atmospheric reading of Willie Nelson's "Night Life" barely scraping into the Top Sixty. Sporadic entries on the country chart followed, including "Buffalo Nickel" (1968), "Two Little Boys" (1970) and "Harbor Lights" (1980), but he concentrated increasingly on his club work. In addition he hosted a daytime television programme, Swingin' Country, made guest appearances on hit shows like Laramie, Rawhide and 77 Sunset Strip, and appeared in productions of Oklahoma and Annie Get Your Gun.

Paul Wadey