Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (February 18, 1914 – March 7, 2000), known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "The Tennessee Waltz".
Pee Wee King was an unlikely candidate for country music stardom. Yet as a songwriter, bandleader,recording artist, and television entertainer, he broke new ground in country music, and he helped to bring waltzes, polkas, and cowboy songs into mainstream country music during ten productive years at the Grand Ole Opry.
Born Frank Julius Anthony Kuczynski into a working-class
Polish-German family, he grew up in the polka-and-waltz culture of Wisconsin.
His musical debut occurred at age fifteen, when he played the accordion in his
father’s polka band. He changed his name to King (after the then popular polka
performer Wayne King) and formed his own high school band, Frankie King &
the King’s Jesters. In 1933 young Frankie King joined the Badger State Barn
Dance and soon had his own radio show on WJRN in Racine.
King’s lucky break came in the spring of 1934, when he
met promoter J. L. Frank. He moved with Frank to Louisville in 1934 to back up
Gene Autry for a time, joined Frankie More’s Log Cabin Boys as accordionist on
WHAS radio, and in 1936 married Joe Frank’s stepdaughter Lydia.
In 1936 King was in Knoxville performing on WNOX. In 1937
he formed the Golden West Cowboys and moved to Nashville to begin a ten-year
run on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry, with the exception of 1940, when he worked
primarily out of Louisville. In 1941–1942 he and his band were featured with
the Camel Caravan, a WSM touring company that presented some 175 shows at
military installations in the United States and Central America. At various
times his band included Eddy Arnold, Redd Stewart, Ernest Tubb, Cowboy Copas,
and Minnie Pearl.
After joining the Grand Ole Opry in June 1937, King helped introduce an array of new instruments and sounds to that program’s stage, including the trumpet, drums, and the electric guitar. In addition, he dressed his band members in spiffy western outfits designed by the Hollywood tailor Nudie. His nattily attired Golden West Cowboys generally produced a smooth and danceable sound during their heyday in the 1940s; in the 1950s they even branched out briefly into mild rockabilly.
After joining the Grand Ole Opry in June 1937, King helped introduce an array of new instruments and sounds to that program’s stage, including the trumpet, drums, and the electric guitar. In addition, he dressed his band members in spiffy western outfits designed by the Hollywood tailor Nudie. His nattily attired Golden West Cowboys generally produced a smooth and danceable sound during their heyday in the 1940s; in the 1950s they even branched out briefly into mild rockabilly.
He wrote or co-wrote more than 400 songs, including some
of the most popular songs in American musical history, notably “Slow Poke” (a
#1 pop hit for fourteen weeks in 1951) with Chilton Price and the hugely
successful “Tennessee Waltz” with Redd Stewart. Patti Page’s 1950 version of
the latter song was #1 on the pop charts and within six months sold almost 5
million copies. It became an official Tennessee state song in 1965.
His own
recording career included more than twenty albums and 157 singles, most of them
issued during his seventeen-year association with RCA Victor. With the release
of his recording of “Slow Poke” in 1951, he became one of the first country
musicians to cross over successfully into the pop field.
His own
recording career included more than twenty albums and 157 singles, most of them
issued during his seventeen-year association with RCA Victor. With the release
of his recording of “Slow Poke” in 1951, he became one of the first country
musicians to cross over successfully into the pop field.
King became also a pioneer television performer when in
1947 he returned to Louisville to work on WAVE radio and television. In the
fifties and sixties he had regional and national TV shows originating from
Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Chicago, including a six-year run of The
Pee Wee King Show on ABC television.
He appeared in four movies: Gold Mine in the Sky with
Gene Autry in 1938; Flame of the West with Johnny Mack Brown in 1945; and
Ridin’ the Outlaw Trail (1951) and The Rough, Tough West (1952) with Charles
Starrett. In 1967 he released his own production, Country-Western Hoedown, an
artistic and financial disaster.
He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of
Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974.
He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the
In the Heat of the Night cast CD Christmas Time’s A Comin’ performing
"Jingle Bells" with the cast released on Sonlite and MGM/UA for one
of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern
retailers.
He died of a heart attack in Louisville, Kentucky, at age 86. (Info edited from the Country Music Hall of Fame & Wikipedia)
