Ottis "Slim" Whitman, Jr. was born in Tampa, Florida on January 20, 1923. Whitman was a promising baseball player, and it was only the intervention of the Second World War, which resulted in his enlistment in the US Navy, that steered him to a singing career instead.
Whitman's first big break came when talent manager Colonel Tom Parker heard him singing on the radio and offered to represent him. Signed with RCA Records, he was billed as "the cowboy singer Slim Whitman" and performed on the legendary Louisiana Hayride after releasing his first single in 1948. A few years later Parker discovered a young singer called Elvis Presley and the future King of Rock 'n' Roll served as Whitman's opening act for a short time.
Whitman began a run of hits in the early '50s with "Love Song of the Waterfall" and " Indian Love Call" then scored a #1 hit in the UK pop charts with "Rose Marie in 1955." The song dominated the top spot in Britain for 11 weeks, a record that would stand for 36 years. until Bryan Adams’ "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," spent 16 weeks at the summit.
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