Fred Rose (musician)

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Fred Rose (August 24, 1897 - December 1, 1954) was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.

Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips and eventually made it into vaudeville. Eventually he became successful as a songwriter, penning his first hit for entertainer Sophie Tucker.

For a short time Fred Rose lived in Nashville, Tennessee but his radio show there did not last long and he headed to New York City's Tin Pan Alley in hopes of making a living as a songwriter. It was there that he began writing songs with Ray Whitley, an RKO B-Western film star and author of "Back In the Saddle Again," and this collaboration opened the door to the possibilities in the country music genre. He lived with Ray and Kay Whitley in an apartment in Hollywood, co-writing many tunes for Ray's movies. In 1942 he returned to Nashville to team up with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff to create the first Nashville-based music publishing company. Their Acuff-Rose Music would prove highly successful, particularly with the success of client Hank Williams.

While running the business, Fred Rose continued to write numerous country songs and eventually became one of the industry's most important personalities. He also wrote songs under the name Floyd Jenkins.^[1]

Fred Rose died in Nashville in 1954 and was interred there in the Mount Olivet Cemetery. His son, Wesley Rose, would take over the presidency of the company and continue to build on his father's success.

On its founding in 1961, Fred Rose was made a charter member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.

[edit] Selected list of Fred Rose songs

• Red Hot Mama (Rose/Wells Gilbert/Bud Cooper)- Sophie Tucker
• Deed I Do (Rose/Walter Hirsch) - Sophie Tucker
• Be Honest With Me (Rose/Gene Autry) - Gene Autry
• Pins and Needles (in My Heart) - Darrell McCall
• No One Will Ever Know (Rose/Mel Foie) - Gene Watson
• Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (Rose) - Roy Acuff, Olivia Newton-John (1976), Willie Nelson, Hank Williams (on Mothers Best Show)
• Take These Chains From My Heart (Rose/Hy Heath) - Hank Williams
• It'a Sin (Rose/William E. Grishaw) - Eddy Arnold
• Texarkana Baby (Rose/Clark) - Eddy Arnold, Bob Wills
• I Can't Go On This Way (Rose)- Bob Wills
• Crazy Heart (Rose)- Hank Williams
• Faded Love and Winter Roses (Rose) - Carl Smith, David Houston
• Foggy River (Rose) - Carl Smith
• Kaw-Liga (Rose/Hank Williams) - Hank Williams, Charley Pride
• Roly Poly (Rose) - Bob Wills, Carl Smith, Hank Williams, Jim Reeves
• Settin' the Woods on Fire (Rose/Ed G. Nelson) - Hank Williams
• I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (Rose/Williams) - Hank Williams
• Waltz of the Wind (Rose) - Roy Acuff, Carl Smith, Hank Lochlin, Marty Robbins
• Hang Your Head in Shame (Rose/Ed G. Nelson/Steve Nelson) - Bob Wills, Red Foley

[edit] References

• All Music Guide
• Find-A-Grave profile for Fred Rose
• Rumble, John. (1998). "Fred Rose." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 459.