Slim Dusty born 13 June 1927

David Gordon "Slim Dusty" Kirkpatrick AO, MBE (13 June 1927—19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly seven decades.

Known as the 'Historian of The Bush'  Slim Dusty was born in June 13, 1927, in Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia, as David Gordon Kirpatrick. Dusty spent his younger years growing up on a dairy farm, where he first learned of his love for music. The first major influence on his career in music was his father, who liked to vocalize to the accompaniment of his fiddle playing when Dusty was still a baby.

At the age of 10 he heard an Aborigine sing a song called 'The Drunkard's Child,' and he was so impressed, that he wrote his first song, 'The Way The Cowboy Died,' the same year. At age 11, he decided to rename himself Slim Dusty.

In 1942, as a seasoned performer of 15, Dusty began his trips into the studios of the local radio station, and at his own expense recorded two songs, 'Song for The Aussies' and 'My Final Song.' In 1945 Dusty became a regular performer and also wrote his first hit, 'When the Rain Tumbles Down In July.' In November 1946, the he hit the big time and in a Sydney, Australia, studio he recorded the six songs which would be released as his first three 78 rpm singles, starting with 'When The Rain Tumbles Down in July.' In 1952, he married a fellow country performer and songwriter named Joy McKean.

By April 1957, Dusty already had a recording career of ten-plus years behind him when he was scheduled to record four more songs, but only three had been chosen. At the time, he was traveling with Gordon Parsons, who was singing a song he'd written based on a poem by Dan Shean. Later needing an extra song he asked Parsons if he could record his song, thinking it would make a good B-side for a song called 'Saddle Boy.' Parsons had no problem with that as to him, 'A Pub With No Beer' was just a novelty song. He was working months later in Queensland, Australia, when he was told that the B-side of his latest single had made the pop charts in Brisbane, Australia, and as time went on 'A Pub With No Beer' became the first ever Australian made single to reach the national #1 spot. The record went on to reach #3 in England, and also sold well in the United States.

 

It is said that The "Pub with No Beer" is a real place, in Taylors Arm, not far from Kempsey where Slim Dusty was born. In 1959 and 1960 Dutch and German cover versions of the song became number one hits (even evergreens) in Belgium, Austria and Germany, brought by the Flemish country singer-guitarist and amusement park founder Bobbejaan Schoepen.

Slim Dusty was the first Australian to receive a Gold Record, the first Australian to have an international record hit, and the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed to earth from space (in 1983, astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played Slim singing Waltzing Matilda from the space shuttle "Columbia" as it passed over Australia).

Dusty not only recorded songs written by himself and other fellow Australian performers, but also recorded classic Australian poems by Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson with new tunes, to call  attention to the old 'Bush Ballads.'

During his career Dusty won several awards including ones from the Tamworth Music Awards Golden Guitars to his Member of the British Empire medal. In September 2000, he was one of the Australian performers featured in the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games, where he was given the job of singing Australia's unofficial national anthem, 'Waltzin' Matilda.' 

In his career in total he won 35 Golden Guitars, the first Australian to have a Gold Record, more Gold and Platinum albums then any other Australian performer, Australian Recording Industry Awards (ARIA), including his introduction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Gold and Platinum Video Sales, an MBE, Order of Australia for his services to entertainment, one of the earliest inducted to the Country Music Roll of Renown, 1999's Father of the Year, and Senior Australian of the Year 1999. In November 2001 Dusty was diagnosed with cancer when a cancerous tumor was found on his kidney. In June 2003 his cancer was once again diagnosed and on September 19, 2003, at the age of 76, he passed away.

Dusty had been working on his 106th album, for EMI Records. The album Columbia Lane - the Last Sessions debuted at number five in the Australian album charts and number one on the country charts on March 8, 2004. It went gold after being on sale for fewer than two weeks. EMI Records' Australian sales of Slim Dusty records surpassed 7 million in 2007.
(Info edited from All Music & various sources)