Rosalie Allen
Rosalie Allen (born Julie Marlene Bedra, June 27, 1924 in Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania – September 24, 2003) was an American singer.
Allen grew up the daughter of a Polish immigrant chiropractor in a large, impoverished Pennsylvania family. Inspired by the singing cowboys of the 1930s, she taught herself to sing and play her brother's guitar, then began working on the radio in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and later performed on Denver Darling's Swing Billies pseudo-western radio show in New York City.
Allen's first hit came in 1946 with RCA Victor with a yodeling update of Patsy Montana's "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart." Allen's final hits paired her with yodeler Elton Britt. Their first single, "Beyond the Sunset," hit number seven in 1950. They also recorded "The Yodel Blues" and "Quicksilver."
In 1944, she took up a job as a disc jockey. Her half-hour program, Prairie Stars on WOV in New York, was so popular that Country Music magazine named her the most famous country music personality in Manhattan. She stayed with the show until rock music bumped her off the air in 1956. In the 194[1] 0s, she ran a country western record shop called Rosalie Allen's Hillbilly Music Center on West 54th Street in New York City, one of the first record stores in the United States to sell only country music.[2] Allen retired to Alabama to raise a family.
In 1999, her work in radio was recognized and she was the first woman inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. After a brief battle with congestive heart failure, Allen died on September 24, 2003.
Discography
- 1957: Rosalie Allen Sings Country & Western Hits (Waldorf Music)
- 1957: Songs of the Golden West (Grand Award)
- 1959: Rodeo (Grand Award)
- 1961: Rosalie Allen (RCA)
- 1966: Starring Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen (Grand Award)
- 1983: The Queen Of The Yodelers (Cattle)
References
External links
- Allmusic
- Rosalie Allen at Venerable Music. Includes some sound clips from the album Jealous Heart.
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