ShotOver
09-19-2003, 04:05 AM
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Country music legend Slim Dusty dies
Legendary country music entertainer Slim Dusty has died.
Dusty passed away at his home at 9.46am (AEST) after a protracted battle with cancer, EMI marketing manager Chris O'Hearne told AAP.
Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick at Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast, in 1927, he wrote his first song The Way the Cowboy Dies at the age of 10.
A year later he changed his name to Slim Dusty and later went on to record a string of hits including The Pub With No Beer, the biggest selling record by an Australian.
He was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record, the first to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space.
In June this year, Dusty was recording his 106th album and at the time his management denied he was battling cancer.
Dusty had his left kidney removed after a cancerous tumour was detected in November 2001 and received continuous treatment.
His wife Joy, son David and daughter Anne were at his bedside when the 76-year-old singer passed away at his home in Sydney, Mr O'Hearne said.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/story_51818.asp
Slim Dusty has left us - a nation morbid and drear.
The country music legend, whose hits included The Pub With No Beer and Duncan, died in Sydney after a long battle with kidney cancer. He was 76.
By his side as she had been throughout their 51-year marriage was wife and soul mate Joy McKean, his singer-daughter Anne Kirkpatrick, and son David.
Dusty was born David Gordon Kirkpatrick near Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast and wrote his first song The Way the Cowboy Dies aged just 10 years old.
What followed was 60 years of recording - 106 albums in all, notching up worldwide sales of more than six million.
It's an achievement unmatched by any other Australian artist.
His most famous song, The Pub With No Beer, was at the time the biggest selling record by an Australian.
Dusty was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record, the first to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space.
Tributes soon began flooding in, most agreeing with music historian Glenn A Baker that "(Slim Dusty) wasn't just an Australian, he was Australia".
Baker led the testimonials, describing his friend as "intrinsically and unapologetically Australian".
He said Dusty would be greatly missed by every Australian, particularly Indigenous communities who relished his dedication to taking his music to some of the most remote parts of the country.
"He was still making albums that won awards, he was still making albums that were selling large numbers of copies he was still a very active and competitive country music performer," Mr Baker told AAP.
Many of Australia's younger country music stars would mourn his passing like the death of their own father, he said.
"So many of the other rising stars of Australian music, they all considered it the most enormous honour to be given the opportunity to record a duet with him or perform on stage with him," he said.
Country music singer Adam Harvey said when he first began singing he had wanted to be Slim Dusty.
"I was a young kid getting around I remember with my moleskin jeans and my Akubra on, trying to be like Slim - I think every kid at one stage or another that sings country music has looked up to Slim and wanted to follow in the path that Slim's taken," he told ABC Radio.
Prime Minister John Howard also paid tribute to "a one-off, a great bloke in the proper sense of that expression and a great Australian figure and icon".
Possibly Dusty's oldest friend, Edwin "Shorty Ranger" Haberfield, said he was shocked and saddened to hear of his friend's death on Friday morning.
The pair had lived on neighbouring farms and shared a passion for music, spending many hours together learning how to play the guitar and learning how to yodel and sing.
John Williamson paid an emotional tribute to his old mate, saying Dusty's passing marked the end of an era in Australian folklore.
"Slim was the voice that kept the link with 'Banjo' and Henry Lawson," Mr Williamson said.
"Slim showed me the strength of a simple Aussie ballad.
"No frills - as pure and as straight to the point as the characters he sang about."
Perhaps the title of one of his last albums - Travellin' Still ... Always Will - recorded with his daughter Anne Kirkpatrick, epitomised how Australians feel about Dusty.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_51818.asp
Country music legend Slim Dusty dies
Legendary country music entertainer Slim Dusty has died.
Dusty passed away at his home at 9.46am (AEST) after a protracted battle with cancer, EMI marketing manager Chris O'Hearne told AAP.
Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick at Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast, in 1927, he wrote his first song The Way the Cowboy Dies at the age of 10.
A year later he changed his name to Slim Dusty and later went on to record a string of hits including The Pub With No Beer, the biggest selling record by an Australian.
He was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record, the first to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space.
In June this year, Dusty was recording his 106th album and at the time his management denied he was battling cancer.
Dusty had his left kidney removed after a cancerous tumour was detected in November 2001 and received continuous treatment.
His wife Joy, son David and daughter Anne were at his bedside when the 76-year-old singer passed away at his home in Sydney, Mr O'Hearne said.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/story_51818.asp
Slim Dusty has left us - a nation morbid and drear.
The country music legend, whose hits included The Pub With No Beer and Duncan, died in Sydney after a long battle with kidney cancer. He was 76.
By his side as she had been throughout their 51-year marriage was wife and soul mate Joy McKean, his singer-daughter Anne Kirkpatrick, and son David.
Dusty was born David Gordon Kirkpatrick near Kempsey, on the NSW mid-north coast and wrote his first song The Way the Cowboy Dies aged just 10 years old.
What followed was 60 years of recording - 106 albums in all, notching up worldwide sales of more than six million.
It's an achievement unmatched by any other Australian artist.
His most famous song, The Pub With No Beer, was at the time the biggest selling record by an Australian.
Dusty was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record, the first to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space.
Tributes soon began flooding in, most agreeing with music historian Glenn A Baker that "(Slim Dusty) wasn't just an Australian, he was Australia".
Baker led the testimonials, describing his friend as "intrinsically and unapologetically Australian".
He said Dusty would be greatly missed by every Australian, particularly Indigenous communities who relished his dedication to taking his music to some of the most remote parts of the country.
"He was still making albums that won awards, he was still making albums that were selling large numbers of copies he was still a very active and competitive country music performer," Mr Baker told AAP.
Many of Australia's younger country music stars would mourn his passing like the death of their own father, he said.
"So many of the other rising stars of Australian music, they all considered it the most enormous honour to be given the opportunity to record a duet with him or perform on stage with him," he said.
Country music singer Adam Harvey said when he first began singing he had wanted to be Slim Dusty.
"I was a young kid getting around I remember with my moleskin jeans and my Akubra on, trying to be like Slim - I think every kid at one stage or another that sings country music has looked up to Slim and wanted to follow in the path that Slim's taken," he told ABC Radio.
Prime Minister John Howard also paid tribute to "a one-off, a great bloke in the proper sense of that expression and a great Australian figure and icon".
Possibly Dusty's oldest friend, Edwin "Shorty Ranger" Haberfield, said he was shocked and saddened to hear of his friend's death on Friday morning.
The pair had lived on neighbouring farms and shared a passion for music, spending many hours together learning how to play the guitar and learning how to yodel and sing.
John Williamson paid an emotional tribute to his old mate, saying Dusty's passing marked the end of an era in Australian folklore.
"Slim was the voice that kept the link with 'Banjo' and Henry Lawson," Mr Williamson said.
"Slim showed me the strength of a simple Aussie ballad.
"No frills - as pure and as straight to the point as the characters he sang about."
Perhaps the title of one of his last albums - Travellin' Still ... Always Will - recorded with his daughter Anne Kirkpatrick, epitomised how Australians feel about Dusty.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/National/story_51818.asp