Spade Cooley

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Spade Cooley bigraphy, stories - Big band leader, Actor, Television personality

Spade Cooley : biography

December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969

Donnell Clyde Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969), better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended in 1961 when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.

In popular culture

John Gilmore has written an in-depth portrait of Cooley’s life and tragic end in Shame on You, a segment of Gilmore’s non-fiction work, L.A. Despair. Cooley is a recurring character in James Ellroy’s fiction, including in the story "Dick Contino’s Blues", which appeared in issue No. 46 of Granta magazine (Winter 1994) and was anthologized in Hollywood Nocturnes.

He is referenced in one of the 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."

Ry Cooder’s 2008 album I, Flathead features a reference to Cooley on the track "Steel Guitar Heaven" ("There ain’t no bosses up in heaven / I heard Spade Cooley didn’t make the grade"), as well as a track named "Spayed Kooley", the name of the singer’s dog.

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 HitsWhitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 89.
Year Position Title Label
1945 1 "Shame On You" OKeh 6731
8 "A Pair of Broken Hearts" "
4 "I’ve Taken All I’m Gonna Take from You" OKeh 6746
1946 2 "Detour" Columbia 36935
3 "You Can’t Break My Heart" "
1947 4 "Crazy ‘Cause I Love You" Columbia 37058

Biography

"Spade" Cooley was born Donnell Clyde Cooley on February 22, 1910, in Grand, Oklahoma. Being part Cherokee, he was sent to the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon to be educated. Around 1930 his family fled the Dust Bowl for California.http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CO049.html Encylclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture retrieved 1.1.2013

Music career

One of the groups which played at the Venice Pier Ballroom in Venice, California, was led by Jimmy Wakely with Spade Cooley on fiddle. Several thousand dancers would turn out on Saturday night to swing and hop. "The hoards (sic) of people and jitterbuggers loved him." When Wakely got a movie contract at Universal, Cooley replaced him as bandleader.L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times. John Gilmore. 2005. Amok Books. Page 313. ISBN 978-1-878923-16-5 ISBN 1878923161

To capitalize on the pioneering success of the Bob Wills–Tommy Duncan pairing, Cooley hired vocalist Tex Williams who was capable of the mellow deep baritone sound made popular by Duncan. 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 1944, and was No. 1 on the country charts for two months. A Red Foley / Lawrence Welk collaboration issued by Decca (18698) was No. 4 to Cooley’s No. 5 on Billboard’s "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" listing in September 1945.Billboard September 15. page 29. Soundies Distributing Corp. of America issued one of their "music video like" film shorts of Cooley’s band titled "Shame on You" in the fall of 1945.Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [C] Group 3. Dramatic Composition and … By Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1945. page 5334.Billboard Oct 13, 1945. page 81. "Shame on You" was the first in an unbroken string of six Top Ten singles including "Detour" and "You Can’t Break My Heart".