Country music legend Ferlin Husky passed way on March 17 at the age of 85. Husky was a pioneer entertainer who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010. Born in 1925 in Flat River, Missouri, he left school during the eight grade. He served five years in the Merchant Marine during World War II, then began singing around St. Louis, Missouri, and Bakersfield, California.
In the early 1950s, Capital Records signed him. He scored his first big hit with a duet with fellow Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Jean Shepard, “Dear John Letter.” Other early hits included “Gone,” which reached number 1 in 1957 and “Wings of a Dove,” which was another number one hit in 1960. Other hits included such country classics as “A Fallen Star,” My Reason for Living,” “The Waltz You Saved for Me,” “Timber I’m Falling,” and many more, including several comedy hits under the pseudonym “Simon Crum.”
He made many television appearances, appeared in movies such as Country Music Holiday (1958, with Zsa Zsa Gabor), Las Vegas Hillbillies (1966, with Jayne Mansfield), and more. He continued touring and performing until into the 2000s.
Husky is credited with being a major participant in developing the “Nashville Sound.” He is also said to have influenced a young Elvis Presley, who opened for Husky on a tour.