Spade Cooley

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Spade Cooley

Background information
Birth name Donnell Clyde Cooley
Also known as King of Western Swing
Born December 17, 1910(1910-12-17)
Origin Pack Saddle Creek, Oklahoma
Died November 23, 1969 (aged 58)
Genre(s) Western Swing
Occupation(s) Big band leader
Actor
Television personality

Donnell Clyde 'Spade' Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American Western Swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.[1]

Contents

[edit] Show business career

Cooley's 18 month engagement at Santa Monica's Venice Pier Ballroom was record breaking for the early half of the 1940s. His "Shame On You", released on Columbia's OKeh label, was recorded in December of 1944, and was No. 1 on the country charts for two months.[1] "Shame on You" was the first in an unbroken string of six Top Ten singles including "Detour" and "You Can't Break My Heart".

Cooley appeared in 38 westerns, both in bit parts and as a stand in for cowboy actor Roy Rogers. He also hosted a Los Angeles based syndicated television show from 1949 until 1959. The Hoffman Hayride was so popular that an estimated 75 percent of all televisions in the L.A. area were tuned into the show each Saturday night. In 1950 Cooley had significant roles in several films, and starred in two film shorts: "King of Western Swing" and "Spade Cooley & His Orchestra".

After a "Battle of the Bands" with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys at the Venice Pier Ballroom, which Cooley won, he began to promote himself as the "King of Western Swing".[2] Evidently Western swing, not used prior to 1942 for this style of music, was a term thought up by Cooley's then promoter, Forman Phillips.[3] Following Waylon Jennings 1975 #1 hit, "Bob Wills Is Still The King", Wills's fans transferred the title "King" to Wills.

Cooley's sound was closer to, and isolated in the style of conventional big band dance-oriented pop orchestras. Where as Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys used far more diverse fusions of multi-genres, through which they popularized, defined, and evolved what is now recognized as true Western Swing. This diversity allowed for Wills to reach wider audiences, as was found in Cain's Ballroom culture. Cooley's specialized, 'city sound' of the period popular culture accounts for his work having been popular with limited mainstream audiences during his 1940s and 1950s heyday, but at the same time not having enjoyed the diverse and continuing popularity of Wills.

[edit] Murder of Ella Mae Evans

In 1961, his wife expressed her wish to be divorced, and a drunken Cooley responded by beating her and stomping on her body until she died. During the trial Cooley suffered a heart attack while he was delivered his prison sentence. After serving eight years of his sentence, the state of California gave him a temporary release in order to play a benefit concert for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Alameda County at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. After the performance, he suffered another heart attack in the backstage area. This time it was fatal.

[edit] Discography

Selected Discography.
Date Title Label
1941 Tell Me Why Westernair 801
05/03/46 Oklahoma Stomp Columbia 20573
05/03/46 Steel Guitar Rag Columbia 39054
06/06/46 Spadella Columbia 37585
06/06/46 Swingin' The Devil's Dream Columbia 28253
04/25/47 All Aboard For Oklahoma RCA 20-2552
01/31/47 Minuet In Swing RCA 20-22181
05/09/47 You Can't Take Texas Out Of Me RCA 20-3547
05/29/52 One Sweet Letter From You Decca 28344
Top 40 Hits.[4]
Year Position Title Label
1945 1 Shame On You OKeh 6731
1945 8 A Pair Of Broken Hearts "
1945 4 I've Taken All I'm Gonna Take From You OKeh 6746
1946 2 Detour Columbia 36935
1946 3 You Can't Break My Heart "
1947 4 Crazy 'Cause I Love You Columbia 37058


[edit] In popular culture

John Gilmore has written an indepth portrait of Spade Cooley's life and tragic end in Shame on You, a segment of Gilmore's nonfiction work, L.A. Despair. Cooley is also a recurring character in James Ellroy's fiction.

It has been reported that Dennis Quaid plans to make a bio-pic about Cooley.

Spade Cooley is the grandfather of Mike Cooley, singer, guitarist, song writer and founding member of the rock band Drive-By Truckers.

Referenced in one of the classic 39 Honeymooners episodes (from Art 'Ed Norton' Carney to Jackie 'Ralph Kramden' Gleason): "They wouldn't-a won that except some guy slipped in a Spade Cooley record."

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Crimelibrary.com
  2. ^ Komorowski, Spade Cooley, p. 4: "It was around this time [1942] that Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys come out West, and when Cooley fell out with Phillips, the promoter sacked him and hired Bob Wills in his place. A cocksure Cooley demanded a 'Battle of The Bands' before he vacated the Venice Pier, and in a contest held over two weekends, emerged the undisputed winner. He promptly proclaimed himself the 'King of Western Swing', the first time the term was used to describe this style of music, and it was one that stuck."
  3. ^ Logsdon, "The Cowboy's Bawdy Music", p.137: "The term 'western swing' was not used until Foreman Phillips, a promoter-disc jockey, used it to describe Spade Cooley in 1942."
  4. ^ Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 89.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Logsdon, Guy. "The Cowboy's Bawdy Music". The Cowboy: Six-Shooters, Songs, and Sex (pp. 139-138) edited by Charles W. Harris and Buck Rainey. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8061-1341-3
  • Komorowski, Adam. Spade Cooley: Swingin' The Devil's Dream. (Proper PVCD 127, 2003) booklet.
  • Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Cooley, Spade
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cooley, Donnell Clyde
SHORT DESCRIPTION Big band leader, Actor, Television personality
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Pack Saddle Creek, Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1969
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages