Gene Autry

AKA:

The Singing Cowboy

Birth Name:

Orvon Grover Autry

Birth Date:

September 29, 1907

Birth Place:

Tioga, Texas

Death Date:

October 2, 1998

Place of Death:

10985 Bluffside Drive, Studio City, Los Angeles, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Lymphoma

Cemetery Name:

Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills

Claim to Fame:

Music

Gene Autry, nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true. Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience. In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again" and his hit "At Mail Call Today", Autry is still remembered for his Christmas songs, most especially his biggest hit "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as well as "Frosty the Snowman", "Here Comes Santa Claus", and "Up on the House Top"

Fun Facts

Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance. The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma, was named in his honor, as was the Gene Autry precinct in Mesa, Arizona.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills

6300 Forest Lawn Drive

Los Angeles, California, 90068

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California

Grave Location:

Sheltering Hills, Lot 1048, Space 2

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery drive 300 feet past the gates and park on your right. Look up the hillside for a large statue. As you walk towards the statue look to your right for Lot 1048 until you find the large bronze flat monument which marks the final resting place of The Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry.

Grave Location GPS

34.148356944983384, -118.32620564884931

Photos:

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Videos Featuring Gene Autry:

The Gene Autry Show - Episode 1, Season 1

Gene Autry on "David Letterman" 1982

Gene Autry - From Poverty to Wealth, Jerry Skinner Documentry

Gene Autry Interview

Former Palm Springs Hone of Gene Autry

Gene Autry Sings Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer on the Ed Sullivan Show

Gene Autry Obituary TNN

Gene Autry Gravesite

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Jimmy Reed

popular name: Jimmy Reed

date_of_death: August 29, 1976

age: 50

cause_of_death: Respiratory failure due to epileptic seizure

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Jimmy Reed was an American blues musician and songwriter whose particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby What You Want Me to Do" (1960), "Big Boss Man" (1961), and "Bright Lights, Big City" (1961) appeared on both Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues and Hot 100 singles charts. In the beginning Reed learned the rudiments of guitar from his friend Eddie Taylor, a far more accomplished guitarist who would serve as Reed’s accompanist for much of his career. By the 1950s, Reed had established himself as a popular musician yet failed to gain a recording contract with Chess Records, but signed with Vee-Jay and began playing again with Eddie Taylor and soon released "You Don't Have to Go", his first hit record. It was followed by a long string of hit songs. Reed maintained his reputation despite his rampant alcoholism; his wife sometimes had to help him remember the lyrics to his songs while recording. In 1957, Reed developed epilepsy, though the condition was not correctly diagnosed for a long time, as Reed and doctors assumed it was delirium tremens. After his death his songs have been covered innumerable times, by artists as diverse as Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Etta James, Neil Young and The Righteous Brothers. BMI lists over 30 covers of “Baby What You Want Me to Do” alone, while Elvis Presley chose to sing “Big Boss Man” (one of the few Reed hits that was not from his own pen) on his 1968 television comeback special. Reed was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.