Died On This Date (March 8, 1989) Stuart Hamblen / Early Singing Cowboy
themusicsover Carl Stuart Hamblen
October 20, 1908 – March 8, 1989
Stuart Hamblen was country singer and songwriter who later turned to making Christian music. When he became a singing cowboy during the mid ’20s, he was one of the genre’s earliest stars. Having his own radio show from 1931 to 1952 certainly helped him achieve fame. When he transitioned from radio to film, he worked alongside the likes of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. As a songwriter, his biggest hits were “Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In),” and “It’s No Secret.” The former was sung by Pebbles and Bam Bam in a Flintstones episode, while the latter was covered by Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, and Ernest Tubb to name a few. Hamblen later became involved in politics, ultimately running for president against Dwight Eisenhower on the Prohibition Party ticket in 1952. Stuart Hamblen was 81 when he passed away on March 8, 1989.
What You Should Own
Mark Linkous was the multi-instrumentalist leader of alternative rock group, Sparklehorse, who became an critics’ darling cult band after the release of their debut album, Vivadixiesubmarine- transmissionplot, in 1995. Prior to that, he was a member of the Dancing Hoods, who he co-founded in the mid ’80s. In 1996, while on tour with Radiohead, Linkous overdosed Valium, antidepressants and alcohol, causing him to lay unconscious with his legs pinned underneath him for fourteen hours. He literally died for two minutes when rescuers tried to straighten his legs which had been cut off from circulation for the duration of his unconsciousness. The incident left him with permanent damage to his legs. In 2009, Linkous collaborated on a Dark Night of Soul with famed indie producer Danger Mouse and iconic film director, David Lynch. The multi-media project also includes performance by Flaming Lips, Suzanne Vega, 
Lowell Fulson was an influential west coast blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was one of the key figures of the ’40s and ’50s. After moving to Los Angeles in the early ’40s, Fulson formed his first band which included future greats, 
George McKelvey was a comic, actor and folk singer who achieved success during the ’60s and ’70s after he switched from music to stand-up comedy. As a folk singer, he did have a moderate hit with the timely and satirical “My Radiation Baby, My Teenage Fallout Queen” of 1964. After switching to comedy, he became a popular support act for the likes of the Righteous Brothers, Tower of Power and Glenn Yarbrough. George McKelvey, 72, died of a stroke on March 6, 2009.
Patsy Cline was arguably the greatest female singer that country music has ever known. If not the greatest, she was clearly one of the most influential, even though her career was cut tragically short after just eight years. With a booming voice, it didn’t take long for Cline to get noticed thanks to numerous radio talent shows on which she performed as a teen. By the mid ’50s, Cline was making her first records, and in 1957, she released “Walkin’ After Midnight,” which became her first hit and propelled her into the national limelight. Over the next several years Cline released such future country standards as “I Fall To Pieces,” “Sweet Dreams,” and of course, the Willie Nelson penned, “Crazy.” She truly was one of the all-time queens of country music, but sadly that all came to a quick end on March 5, 1963. While flying from a show in Kansas City, Kansas, the small plane that carried Cline, manager, Randy Hughes, and band members, 