Eddy arnold wikipedia
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The most successful commercial artist in country music for the years immediately after World War II was Eddy Arnold. Arnold's success in country music sales centered on two eras: the period from 1945 to 1953, when he dominated country sales and even outsold most pop music artists in the live radio era; and from 1964 to 1970, when country music embraced the “Nashville Sound” and became the music of the middle class.
Richard Edward Arnold was born May 15, 1918, on a farm in Henderson in Chester County. He first appeared on radio in Jackson before moving to Memphis and St. Louis with fiddle player Speedy McNatt. In 1940 Arnold joined Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys in Nashville. From the end of 1941 to the end of 1942, the Golden West Cowboys appeared on the Camel Caravan to entertain U.S. military troops throughout the country.
At the beginning of 1943 Arnold went solo and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. He obtained a recording contract with Victor Records and in December 1944 became the first artist with a major label to record in Nashville. His first
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Moving Uptown
During country music’s late-1950s slump, Arnold’s record sales fell off, as did his personal appearances, and he considered retiring from music. He experienced a new wave of popularity, however, when he traded his Tennessee Plowboy image for an uptown, sophisticated one.
By the mid-1950s, Arnold’s somewhat plaintive singing style had already begun to mellow, and songs such as “I Really Don’t Want to Know” (1954)—recorded with background harmony vocals and without the earlier trademark steel parts of Little Roy Wiggins—and a new version of “Cattle Call” (1955), recorded with an orchestra, anticipated the pop-oriented groove he would later establish with hits such as “What’s He Doing in My World” (1965), “Make the World Go Away” (1965), and numerous other #1 records, many of which crossed over to the pop charts.
In the mid-1960s, under the management of Gerard Purcell, Arnold began to wear tuxedos and make personal appearances with orchestras. His nightclub and TV work increased markedly, and his discs charted abroad
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Eddy Arnold, a classic country crooner, possessing a smooth, very commercial voice, has probably sold more records (albums and singles) than any other country artist. A farm boy from Henderson, Tennessee, for many years he was known as the Tennessee Plowboy, but from his very early days he strove to throw off the hillbilly image and take his music to a much wider audience. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, crossing over from country to pop in the mid 1950s and then going uptown and international in the 1960s by sweetening his down-home country with lush orchestrations, donning a tuxedo and working the plush casinos and high-class cabaret rooms.
Born Richard Edward Arnold on May 15, 1918 on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee, he first became interested in music while at elementary school. His father, an old-time fiddler, taught him guitar. He left school early to help on the family farm and started playing local barn dances, often travelling to the venues on the back of a mule. He made his radio debut in Jackson, Tennessee in 1936, later gaining a regular spot
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