Clarence
Eugene (Hank) Snow, the Singing Ranger, whose golden voice and
unmistakable guitar stylings graced innumerable stages around the world
for over half a century died at his Rainbow Ranch home in Madison,
Tennessee Monday morning, December 20, after a long illness. He was 85.
Hank was one of the few remaining legends whose life's
work was instrumental in helping to define what country music meant to
millions of its fans for many decades. Born in Brooklyn, Queens County,
Nova Scotia, on May 9, 1914, Hank was forced by an abusive stepfather to
leave home at an early age, an experience that led him in later years to
establish the Hank Snow Foundation for abused children.
He sailed from Lunenburg to the Grand Banks and,
encouraged by the response to his singing and guitar playing for his
shipmates, made the decision to pursue a singing career. First
attempting to imitate his idol, Jimmy Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman,
Hank soon began to develop his own distinctive style. Early attempts at
live radio performance at CHNS in Halifax, recording in Montreal, and
even a stab at Hollywood, led to a series of modest booms followed by
periodic busts. This cycle ended once and for all when his friend Ernest
Tubb arranged for him to appear on the Grand Ole' Opry in Nashville,
Tennessee, and soon afterward he wrote and recorded "I'm Movin' On", the
top country song of 1950 and still regarded as one of the all-time great
classics of country music. The song still holds the record for the
number of consecutive weeks at number one on the country charts.
There followed a long series of successes - hit after
hit, including top song again in 1954 with I Don't Hurt Anymore, and
over 70 million records sold in every format from 78s, 45s, extended
play 45s, LPs, 8-tracks to CDs. The Snow catalogue includes more than
100 LPs. In addition to his own songs and hit parade material, there
were gospel songs, train songs, instrumentals (alone and with guitarist
Chet Atkins), tributes to Jimmy Rodgers and the Sons of the Pioneers,
and recitations of Robert Service poems. And Hank is still the oldest
country artist ever to have a number one hit (Hello, Love when he was
61).
Hank was elected to numerous Halls of Fame, including
the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in the
United States, and the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997.
He was voted Canada's top country performer ten times. In the years
following his early success he toured extensively, throughout North
America and around the world, and entertained troops in both Germany and
Korea. Though he has lived in Nashville since his early days on the Opry,
he always retained a great fondness for his home province of Nova
Scotia, celebrating her in song with My Nova Scotia Home, and often
returning there for tours well into the 1980s. In 1994 he received a
honorary doctorate of letters degree from St. Mary's University in
Halifax.
The Hank Snow Story, Hank's autobiography, co-authored
with Jack Ownbey and Bob Burris, appeared in 1994 and details many of
the events in his long and colorful career. Hank seemed to take
pleasure, whenever he had the opportunity, in reminding his
not-so-well-informed interviewers that, although he had played with Hank
Williams, "Elvis played with me!"
Hank leaves a legion of loyal fans around the world,
including the Friends of Hank Snow Society of Liverpool, who were
instrumental in establishing the Hank Snow Country Music Centre in
Liverpool which opened in 1997.
Hank is survived by his wife, Min Aalders Snow, Madison,
Tenn., a son, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, Nashville, a sister, Marion Peach,
Caledonia, N.S., and several grand children.
(From the Hank Snow Country Music Centre. Researched and
written by Porter Scobey.)
