Dave Dudley
Dave Dudley ( May 3, 1928 in Spencer, Wisconsin, as Darwin David Pedruska, † December 22, 2003 in Danbury, Wisconsin) was an American country musician. Dudley had portrayed in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 40 country hits, which often privation life of the truck truck driver ( trucker ) in the expanses of the United States.
- 2.1 albums
Life
Childhood and youth
Dudley's grandparents came from Königsberg in Germany. He grew up in Stevens Point. At the age of 11 he got from his grandfather a guitar as a present and learned to play the chords. Originally Dudley wanted to be a professional baseball player, but a torn muscle in his right arm prevented this. To be able to keep financially afloat, he took a job as a dock worker.
After he had finished his night shift one morning, he went to visit a friend at a local radio station in Texas, but did not appear. Dudley discovered a guitar, which he took and where he played. The editor of the radio station encouraged Dudley, to try as a musician. He took a job as a DJ and played with a band on local events.
Beginning of the 1950s drew Dudley to Idaho, where he founded the Dave Dudley Trio. He quickly shifted his base to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he played with his band in the area, was heard regularly on WCOW and a commitment to the " Gay 90 's Club " got. Meanwhile played Dudley and his band Rockabilly, a synthesis of country and rhythm and blues, which belongs to the Rock ' n' Roll. Nevertheless, were still clearly Dudley's roots in the country to hear. In 1955 he made his first recordings for the Cincinnati -based King Records label. The three singles, including the rockabilly plate Rock and Roll Nursery Rhyme / I Guess You Know You're Right, but no notable success was granted. In 1958 a second plate with Starday Records and 1959 when NRC label from Atlanta. 1960 broke up the trio and Dudley subsequently founded the Country Gentlemen.
Achievements
With Maybe I Do, recorded in 1961 for Vee Records, Dudley succeeded in the first chart success - the single bumped up into the top -40 before and reached number 28 in the following year he had with Under Cover of the Night is another small hit, which on landed 18th place. In the same year Dudley got from Jimmy C. Newman a demo with the song Six Days on the Road; after Dudley had a little hesitant, but he decided to record it. But as he was without a record deal at this time there, he founded his own record label unceremoniously Golden Wing Records and released Six Days on the Road in the spring of 1963 I Feel a Cry Coming On the B - side. Unexpected success for Dudley came when the single was advancing to number two on the country charts and was also placed on # 32 on the pop charts. It was followed by another hit with Cowboy Boots ( # 3), and in late 1963 joined Dudley to the major label Mercury Records.
Already Dudley's first single, Last Day In The Mines, again reached the Top Ten on the country charts (# 7). The 1960s through Dudley could with other hits such as Truck Driving Son of a Gun (# 3 ) What We're Fighting For (# 4) Trucker's Prayer (# 23), Anything Leaving Town Today (# 12), There Ain 't No Easy Run ( # 10) or Two Six Packs Away come up. In 1970 he reached with the book written by Tom T. Hall Title Pool Shark the top spot on the country charts. Dudley had developed a new Country style, which was marked by hard honky tonk and rock influences. The lyrics often dealt with the hard and lonely life of the trucker, so this style is also called Trucker Country, which rubbed off, especially on the German country scene. Other stars such as Red Sovine quickly jumped on to this trend.
Dudley's biggest hit in 1970 The Pool Shark, who remained his first and only number one hit at the same time. Despite some further hits in the early 1970s as Comin 'Down and Fly Away Again he had his zenith has already passed. In 1973 he moved to United Artists. From the late 1970s Dudley was no longer represented in the charts; he had his last chart entry in 1980 with Rolaid Dean's Pills and Preperation H (# 77) for Sun Records. However, Dudley continued to be very popular with his concerts and came unexpectedly in 1977 in Germany to fame, as the German country band Truck Stop with the song I'd like ' so like Dave Dudley hörn ... had a hit.
Dave Dudley died in 2003 at the age of 75 years of a heart attack at his home in Danbury.