Wilf Carter
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Wilf Carter (born December 18, 1904 in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, Canada, died December 5, 1996 in Scottsdale, Arizona), also known as Montana Slim, was a Canadian country music singer and yodeler.
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[edit] Background
In 1923, Carter moved west to Calgary, Alberta, where he found work as a cowboy and made extra money singing and playing his guitar. It was during this time that he developed his own yodeling style, sometimes called an "echo yodel" or a "three-in-one".
Carter performed his very first radio broadcast on CFCN in 1930. Two years later, he was entertaining tourists as a trail rider for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The railroad company promoted horseback excursions into the Canadian Rockies, and Carter soon became popular.
[edit] Music career
His popularity grew such that in 1933 he was hired to be an entertainer on the maiden voyage of the British ship S.S. Empress. However, on the way to the ship he stopped off in Montreal and recorded two songs he had written: My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby and The Capture of Albert Johnson. By 1934 that record was a best-seller. By 1935 he was in New York City, performing on WABC radio. And that same year someone tagged him with the name Montana Slim," and it stuck.
In 1937 he left New York City and returned to Calgary, where he bought a ranch. He continued to appear on both American and Canadian radio shows, as well as doing live concerts. Carter seriously injured his back in a 1940 car accident. He was unable to tour regularly for much of the decade. He sold his ranch in 1949 and moved to a 180 acre (730,000m2) farm in New Jersey.
In 1952 he moved again, this time to Orlando, Florida, and opened the Wilf Carter Motor Lodge. That venture only lasted two years before he closed it.
[edit] Career highlights
In 1953 Carter started touring with his own show called, The Family Show With The Folks You Know. His daughters, Carol and Sheila, worked with him as dancers and back-up singers. At the Canadian National Exhibition bandstand in Toronto, they set an attendance record when they performed for 50,000 people in one week.
1964 saw the first time he entertained at the Calgary Stampede. He also became one of the most requested guests on the TV show hosted by Canadian country singer Tommy Hunter.
In 1971, Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1985 he was also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Carter recorded his last album, Whatever Happened to All Those Years, in 1988. He retired soon thereafter, mainly because he was losing his hearing.
Some credit the writing of the Christmas carol, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, to Wilf Carter, though it is generally credited as an anonymous work.
