Gene Austin (June 24, 1900 - January 24, 1972) was an American singer and songwriter who is considered to have been the first "crooner". June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ... 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ... January 24 is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... Crooner is an epithet given to a male singer of a certain style of popular songs, dubbed Pop standards. ...

Austin was born as Lemeul Eugene Lucas in Gainesville, Texas (north of Dallas), to Nova Lucas (died 1943) and the former Serena Belle Harrell (died 1956). He took the name "Gene Austin" from his stepfather, Jim Austin, a blacksmith. Austin grew up in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, located east of Shreveport. There he learned to play piano and guitar. He ran away from home at fifteen and attended a vaudeville act in Houston, where the audience was allowed to come to the stage and sing. On a dare from his friends, Austin took the stage and sang for the first time since singing as a Southern Baptist choir boy. The audience response was overwhelming, and the vaudeville company immediately offered him a billed spot on their ticket. Gainesville is a city located in Cooke County, Texas. ... ·· Nickname: Big D Location in the state of Texas Country United States State Texas Counties Dallas, Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall Mayor Laura Miller Area    - City 997. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Minden is a small city located in Webster Parish, Louisiana, twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. ... Webster Parish is a parish located in the state of Louisiana. ... This Article does not cite its references or sources. ... Location in the state of Louisiana Coordinates: Parish Caddo Mayor Keith Hightower Area    - City 117. ... Vaudeville is a style of multi-act theatre which flourished in North America from the 1880s through the 1920s. ... Nickname: Space City Location in the state of Texas Coordinates: Counties Harris County Fort Bend County Montgomery County Mayor Bill White Area    - City 1,558 km²  (601. ... The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a United States-based cooperative ministry agency serving Baptist churches around the world. ...

Austin joined the U.S. Army at the age of 17 in hopes of being dispatched to Europe to fight in World War I. He was first stationed in New Orleans, where he played the piano at night in the city's notorious vice district. His familiarity with horses from helping his stepfather in his blacksmithing business also prompted the Army to assign Austin to the cavalry and send him to Mexico with General John Pershing's Pancho Villa expedition, for which he was awarded the Mexican Service Medal. Thereafter, he served in France in the Great War. The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... World map showing Europe Political map (neighboring countries in Asia and Africa also shown) Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Italy Russia United States Serbia Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Conrad von Hötzendorf İsmail Enver Ferdinand... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... Kircholm, a 1925 painting by Wojciech Kossak. ... John Joseph Black Jack Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948) was an officer in the United States Army. ... The Pancho Villa Expedition was an abortive punitive expedition conducted by the United States against the military forces of Mexican Revolutionary General Pancho Villa in retaliation for Villas invasion of the United States and attack on the village of Columbus, New Mexico. ... Army & Navy Mexican Service Medals The Mexican Service Medal is an award of the United States military which was established by General Orders of the United States War Department on December 12, 1917. ...

On returning to the United States in 1919, Austin settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he intended to study dentistry. Soon, however, he was playing piano and singing in local taverns. He started writing songs and formed a vaudeville act with Roy Bergere, whith whom he wrote "How Come You Do Me Like You Do." The act ended when Bergere married. Austin worked briefly in a club owned by Lou Clayton, who later was a part of the famous vaudeville team Clayton, Jackson and Durante. RCA Victor bought his popular song "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street." In the next decade with RCA, Austin sold over 80 million records -- a total unmatched by a single artist for 40 years. Best sellers included "The Lonesome Road," "Riding Around in the Rain," and "Ramona." 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: Monument City, Charm City, Mob Town, B-more Motto: Get In On It (formerly The City That Reads and The Greatest City in America; BELIEVE is not the official motto but rather a specific campaign) Location of Baltimore in Maryland Coordinates: Country United States State Maryland County Independent City... Two dentists perform surgery on a patient. ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ...

Arriving with the advent of electrical recording technologies (earlier, acoustical tecnologies had been used) Austin soon gave birth to the "crooner" form (a clear light tenor) of singing of the 20's and 30's, taking over from the more sentimental style of tenor vocals popularized by such singers as Henry Burr and Billy Murray. Such later crooners as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Russ Columbo all credited Austin with creating the musical genre that began their careers. Gene Austin became enormously popular in the late 1920s. His recording of "My Blue Heaven" sold over 12 million records and until Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" replaced it as the largest selling record of all time. Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now. ... Henry Burr, sometimes called Irving Gillette and other pseudonyms, born Harry Haley McClaskey, (born 1882 died 1941), singer of popular songs from the early part of the early 20th century, early radio performer and producer. ... Billy Murray has been the name of more than one person of note: Billy Murray (actor) (born 1941), British actor Billy Murray (singer) (1877-1954), United States singer There is also U.S. film actor Bill Murray. ... Harry Lillis Bing Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor whose career lasted from 1926 until his death in 1977. ... Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was a popular and highly acclaimed male vocalist and actor. ... Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolpho Colombo (January 14, 1908–September 1, 1934), better known by the name Russ Columbo, was an American singer, violinist and actor, most famous for his signature tune, Some Call It Madness, But I Call It Love, and the legend surrounding his early death. ... My Blue Heaven is the title of: My Blue Heaven, a 1950 movie with Betty Grable. ...

Offered to work in Hollywood at the height of his career as the "Voice of the Southland", Austin appeared in three films, "Belle of the Nineties" (1934), "Klondike Annie" (1936) and "My Little Chickadee" (1940), at the request of his personal friend, Mae West. ... MAE-West is a major Internet peering point located in San Jose, California. ...

Gene Austin married his first wife, Kathryn Arnold, a dancer, in 1924 and divorced her in 1929. They had a child, Ann, born in 1928. Austin married his second wife, Agnes Antelline, in 1933, and their dauther Charlotte was born that same year. He and Agnes divorced in 1940. Austin then married actress Doris Sherrell in 1940, and divorced her in 1946. He married wife number four, LouCeil Hudson, a singer, in 1949, and the marriage lasted until 1966. Austin married Gigi Theodorea in 1967; this was his fifth and final marriage. 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

In 1956, CBS made a television drama about Austin's life. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that CBS evening news anchors be merged into this article or section. ...

In 1962, Austin campaigned unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for governor of Nevada. He polled only 5,017 votes (10.21 percent) to his opponent, Grant Sawyer, who received 40,168 ballots (81.4 percent) Sawyer then won the governorship by a nearly 2-1 margin over weak Republican opposition in the fall campaign. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... A governor is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the Head of state; furthermore the title applies to officials with a similar mandate as representatives of a chartered company which has... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Frank Grant Sawyer (December 14, 1918 - February 19, 1996) was a Governor of Nevada. ... This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. ...

Austin had retired to Palm Springs, California, in the late 1950's and had been active in civic boards there until 1970. Income from his record sales allowed him to live comfortably the rest of his life. He died in Palm Springs of lung cancer and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Palm Springs is a famed Riverside County, California, desert resort city, approximately 110 miles east of Los Angeles. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterized by the presence of malignant tumours. ... Gates of Forest Lawn Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a cemetery in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. ... Nickname The Jewel City Location Location of Glendale within Los Angeles County and the State of California. ...

In 1978, Gene Austin was posthumously awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his 1928 recording of Bye, Bye, Blackbird, which has long been considered recorded music's definitive rendition of that song. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have qualitative or historical significance. Alphabetical listing by title: List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients A-D List of Grammy Hall...

In 2005, Gene Austin was nominated and admitted to the Grammy Hall of Fame. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have qualitative or historical significance. Alphabetical listing by title: List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients A-D List of Grammy Hall...

References

• "Gene Austin," A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 1 (1988), p. 25
• Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections, Nevada gubernatorial primaries

External links

• Audio link for recording of Got the Railroad Blues (Realaudio)