More Info on Hank SnowSimilar Country MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Refimprove|date=March 2010Infobox musical artist| | name = Hank Snow| image = Hanksnowpromoimage.jpg| caption =| image_size = 250| landscape = yes| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Clarence Eugene Snow| alias = Hank, The Yodeling Ranger Hank Snow, The Singing Ranger| Born = May 9, 1914| birth_place = Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia|Brooklyn , Nova Scotia , Canada | origin = Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada| death_date = Death date and age|1999|12|20|1914|05|09| death_place = Madison,_Tennessee|Madison , Tennessee , United States | Instruments = Vocals, guitar| genre = Country music|Country | occupation = Musician, songwriter| years_active = 1936& ndash;1999| label = RCA records|RCA Victor | associated_acts =| website = Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 & ndash; December 20, 1999) was a Canadian - United States|American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980. This total includes the number 1 hits " I'm Moving On (Hank Snow song)|I'm Moving On ", " The Golden Rocket (song)|The Golden Rocket ", " I Don't Hurt Anymore ", " Let Me Go, Lover! ", " I've Been Everywhere ", and " Hello Love (Hank Snow song)|Hello Love " as well as other top ten hits. He is a member of both the Canadian Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame|Country Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame|Music Hall of Fame .
Biography
Snow was born in Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia|Brooklyn , Queens County, Nova Scotia|Queens County , Nova Scotia , Canada . He ran away from home to escape a brutal stepfather when he was 12 years old and joined a fishing boat as a cabin boy.Allmusic|class=artist|id=p1811/biography|pure_url=yes Snow's biography at allmusic.com When he was 14, he ordered his first guitar from an Eaton's|Eaton's department store catalog for $5.95, and played his first show in a church basement in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia at age 16. He then sang in local clubs in and around City of Halifax|Halifax . He married Minnie Blanche Aalders in 1935 and had one son, Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snow.
Canadian years
A successful appearance on Halifax radio station CHNS led to Snow's audition with RCA Victor in Montreal, Quebec . In 1936, he signed with the label, staying for more than 45 years. A weekly Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC radio show brought him national recognition and, using the name, Hank, The Yodeling Ranger, and he began touring Canada until the late 1940s when United States|American country music stations began playing his records.
Nashville calls
Snow moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1945, and "Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger" (modified from his earlier nickname, the Yodeling Ranger), was invited to play at the Grand Ole Opry in 1950. That same year he released his hit, "I'm Moving On." The first of seven number 1 hits on the country charts, "I'm Moving On" stayed at the top for 21 weeks, setting the all-time record for most weeks at number 1.
That same year " "The Golden Rocket" and " The Rhumba Boogie " both hit number one with the latter remaining #1 for eight weeks. http://www.boogiebobsrecords.com/component/page,shop.cart/func,cartAdd/product_id,38949/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,1/vmcchk,1/ retrieved 14 December 2009
Along with these hits, his other "signature song" was "I've Been Everywhere," in which he portrayed himself as a hitchhiker bragging about all the towns he'd been through. This song was originally written and performed in Australia by Geoff Mack , and its re-write incorporated North American place names. Rattling off a well-rhymed series of city names at an auctioneer 's pace has long made the song a challenge for any singer.
While performing in Renfro Valley , Snow worked with a young Hank Williams .Citation needed|date=August 2009 In the February 7th 1953 edition, http://books.google.com/books? id=8QwEAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA42& lpg=PA42& dq=%22Jimmy+Rogers+Snow%22& source=bl& ots=lqa6kHTWFa& sig=9by1CSWPoXeHwaNU8bjNrmh_gPI& hl=en& ei=V85rTPeUGYK0lQeAsdlt& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=7& ved=0CC4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage& q=%22Jimmy%20Rogers%20Snow%22& f=false Billboard Magazine reported that Snow's then seventeen year old son, Jimmy Rogers Snow, had "signed with Victor" (RCA Victor Records). Billboard reported that the younger Snow would "record duets with his father", as well as cover his own (presumably ghost-written) material.
Elvis
A regular at the Grand Ole Opry, in 1954 Snow persuaded the directors to allow a young Elvis Presley to appear on stage. Snow used Presley as his opening act and introduced him to Colonel Tom Parker . In August 1955, Snow and Parker formed the management team, Hank Snow Attractions. This partnership signed a management contract with Presley but before long, Snow was out and Parker had full control over the rock singer's career.
Later career
Performing in lavish and colourful sequin-studded suits, Snow had a career covering six decades during which he sold more than 80 million albums. Although he became an American naturalization|naturalized citizen in 1958, he still maintained friendships in Canada and remembered his roots with the 1968 album, My Nova Scotia Home . That same year he performed at campaign stops on behalf of U.S. presidential candidate George Wallace .
Despite his lack of schooling, Snow was a gifted songwriter and in 1978 was elected to Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame . In Canada, he was ten times voted that country's top country music performer. In 1979, he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame , the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Music Hall of Fame . He was also inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
His autobiography, The Hank Snow Story , was published in 1994, and later The Hank Snow Country Music Centre opened near his ancestral home in Liverpool, Nova Scotia . A victim of child abuse, he established the Hank Snow International Foundation For Prevention Of Child Abuse.
Death
Snow died of old age at 12:30am on December 20, 1999 at his Rainbow Ranch in Madison, Tennessee and was interred in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville . http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-12-20/news/9912210013_1_hank-snow-movin-country-music-hall Minnie died in 2003.
Legacy
Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones , Ray Charles , Ashley MacIsaac , Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris , among others, have covered his music.
One of his last top hits, "Hello Love", was sung by Garrison Keillor to open each broadcast of his Prairie Home Companion radio show. The song became Snow's seventh and final number 1 hit on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot Country Songs|Hot Country Singles chart in April 1974. At 59 years and 11 months, Snow became the oldest artist to have a top song on the chart. It was an accomplishment he held for more than 26 years, until Kenny Rogers 's hit record in May 2000 (at 61 years and nine months), " Buy Me a Rose ". ( Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson subsequently reached the top of the chart at older ages as secondary duet partners on records fronted by other artists.)
In Robert Altman 's 1975 film Nashville (film)|Nashville , Henry Gibson played a self-obsessed country star loosely based on Hank Snow. He was also mentioned in the film Smokey and the Bandit . When Cletus Snow, making a collect call , gives his name, the operator's response is not heard, but Cletus replies "No, I'm not Hank Snow's brother."
Hank is referenced in the opening lines of Jimmy Buffet 's 1974 song "The Wino and I Know." http://www.buffettnews.com/resources/songs/? song=17
Discography
Albums
Year
Album
Chart Positions
Label
US Country
US
1952
Country Classics
RCA Victor
Hank Snow Sings
1953
Hank Snow Salutes Jimmie Rodgers
1954
''Hank Snow's Country Guitar
1955
Just Keep a-Movin
Old Doc Brown and Other Narrations by Hank Snow
1957
Country & Western Jamboree
1958
Hank Snow Sings Sacred Songs
1959
Hank Snow Sings Jimmie Rodgers Songs
1961
Hank Snow Souvenirs
''Big Country Hits (Songs I Hadn't Recorded Till Now)
"I Just Wanted to Know (How the Wind Was Blowing)"
70
"Who Will Answer? (Aleluya No. 1)"
69
"The Late and Great Love of My Heart"
20
5
1969
" The Name of the Game Was Love "
16
1
"That's When the Hurtin' Sets In"
53
1970
"Come the Morning"
57
33
"Vanishing Breed"
52
1971
(The Seashores) Of Old Mexico "
6
1972
"Governor's Hand"
34
1973
"North to Chicago"
71
20
1974
Hello Love "
1
1
"That's You and Me"
36
5
"Easy to Love"
26
1975
"Merry-Go-Round of Love"
47
36
"Hijack"
79
"Colorado Country Morning"
95
1976
"Who's Been Here Since I've Been Gone"
87
"You're Wondering Why"
98
1977
"Trouble in Mind"
81
"I'm Still Movin' On"
80
"Breakfast with the Blues"
96
1978
"Nevertheless"
93
"Ramblin' Rose"
93
1979
"The Mysterious Lady from St. Martinique"
80
26
"A Good Gal Is Hard to Find"
91
"It Takes Too Long"
98
1980
"Hasn't It Been Good Together" (w/ Kelly Foxton)
78
39
Guest singles
Year
Single
Artist
US Country
1967
"Chet's Tune"
Some of Chet's Friends
38
See also
Portal|Canada
Kalamazoo, Michigan#Kalamazoo in popular culture|Kalamazoo, Michigan
Music of Canada
List of best-selling music artists
References
Reflist
Wolfe, Charles. (1998). "Hank Snow". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music . Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.& nbsp;494–5.
External links
http://www.hanksnow.com/ Hank Snow Country Music Centre
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/inductees.aspx? cid=186& search=GO Hank Snow at the Country Music Hall of Fame
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Hank+Snow Hank Snow discography at Discogs.com
http://www.jimmysnow.com/ Rev. Jimmy Rodgers Snow Ministries
Persondata | NAME =Snow, Hank | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =May 9, 1914 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Brooklyn, Queens County, Nova Scotia|Brooklyn , Nova Scotia , Canada | DATE OF DEATH =December 20, 1999 | PLACE OF DEATH = Madison,_Tennessee|Madison , Tennessee , United States DEFAULTSORT:Snow, Hank Category:1914 births Category:1999 deaths Category:American composers Category:American male singers Category:American songwriters Category:Canadian country singers Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Canadian country singer-songwriters Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:Canadian people of British Isles descent Category:Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia Category:People from Queens County, Nova Scotia Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:RCA Records Nashville artists
