Hank Snow, musician, 85

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Monday December 20 3:30 PM ET 
Country Music's Hank Snow Dead at 85
By Pat Harris

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - Country music legend Hank Snow, who delivered
85 hits including his signature ``Movin' On'' during a career that lasted
more than half a century, died on Monday at his Nashville home at 85, his
family said.

``He had been ill for several years,'' his son Jimmy said, ''and his
health had deteriorated. He had not played the Grand Ole Opry for quite
some time. He died peacefully in his bed after several weeks of hospice
care.''

He said the family had requested an autopsy but only ``to satisfy
ourselves as to the exact cause of death.''

The Canadian-born entertainer's resonant voice, clipped diction and deft
flap-top guitar picking produced a stream of hits including ``Movin' On''
and the tongue-twisting ``I've Been Everywhere.'' Other were ``Rhumba
Boogie,'' ``Golden Rocket,'' ''Hello Love,'' ``Bluebird Island,'' ``The
Gold Rush is Over,'' ``The Last Ride'' and ``I've Cried a Mile.''

In all, he recorded more than 80 albums and 2,000 songs, scoring 85
country hits, 30 of which were top 10 sellers. In 1980 he enjoyed renewed
popularity teaming with Willie Nelson on a duet album. He set a record for
longevity with a label by recording for RCA for 43 continuous years.

Snow was a member of the Opry, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the
Songwriters' Hall of Fame and the Canadian Hall of Fame.

Born Clarence Eugene Snow in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, on May 9, 19l4, he
grew up in a broken home and was on his own at the age of 12.

``I was abused badly by my stepfather,'' he said in later years ``and ran
away to work on schooners out of Nova Scotia.''

His childhood hardships led Snow to establish the International Foundation
for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect of Children which brought him an
award from the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges.

The slightly built Snow unloaded salt from a freighter to buy his first
guitar and sometimes sang in the streets for pennies. He began his career
as ``Hank the Singing Ranger'' on Radio Station CHNS in Halifax, then in
1936 auditioned in Montreal for RCA.

He toured Pennsylvania and Texas in the 1940s and sang on radio in
Wheeling, West Virginia, always aiming for stardom in the United States.
It was the success of ``Movin' On'' that brought him to the attention of
the Grand Ole Opry where he signed on in 1950.

For years Snow and the late stars Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe were the top
attractions on the show.

Backstage at the Opry, Snow was a retiring individual who stayed aloof
from fellow performers, often retreating to a dressing room while Acuff
and other musicians entertained fans with impromptu jam sessions.

He always wore white suits studded with rhinestones and slipped away from
the crowds after his performances.

``I have surpassed everything I set out to do,'' he once said. ``When I
started we didn't have modern equipment and radio was in its infancy and
record sales a vague thing. I never thought the possibilities were this
strong.

``But as we grew I found out different and the modern recording techniques
-- things they have now -- all I can say is that the world has become so
small!''

Despite his success Snow lived modestly in a Nashville house with his
wife, Minnie. He maintained his own recording studio in his home but many
residents in the middle-class neighborhood did not even know he lived
there. 




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