Slim Dusty

This batch of my favourites will not be as
well known by overseas readers but each
in their own way have made a
contribution to us that I choose not to
ignore.

Slim Dusty.

Born David Gordon Kirkpatrick. OA,
MBE.

1927 – 2003 aged 76 when he died.

In 1951 Slim wed Joy McKean, a talented singer songwriter in her own right,
they had two children, daughter Anne is an award winning artist and son
David who became a doctor, he extended Slims life by picking up heart
problems in 2000.

As an 11 year old David had already firmly decided to pursue a career in the
music industry, even at that age he felt that he needed a snappier name after
due consideration he chose Slim Dusty, and a legend began.

By the time he was 16 he was performing at local functions and had auditioned
at the local radio station, he had also written several songs including his now
famous “When The Rain Tumbles Down In July”

Slim and the family toured Australia extensively, paying particular attention to
small towns and aboriginal communities off the beaten track, these tours
became an annual event over the next 40 years with Slim determined to stay
close to his fan base.

Over the next 6 decades Slim released 104 Albums, all with the same record
label, EMI Australia, 55 years of recording.

Slim covered al forms of record from 78 rpm, 45 rpm, 33 1/3 rpm, and tapes,
CDs, VHS and DVD thrown in for good measure.

Over this lifetime of country music Slim accumulated many honors and firsts,
he won 37 Golden Guitar Awards, including the very first one awarded in 1973,
he had the first gold record in Australia in 1958 for “The Pub With No Beer”,
in 1970 he was awarded an MBE (Member British Empire) and later the
Order of Australia, In 1977 Slim was honoured by an invitation to appear on
the Grand Ol’ Opry in Nashville USA.

Slim Dusty was the first singer in the world to have his voice beamed back to
earth from space, in 1983 astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young played
Waltzing Matilda sung by Slim from Spacecraft Columbia as it orbited over
Australia.

Slim again sang Waltzing Matilda as the grand finale to the Sydney Olympics
in 2000, to his biggest ever crowd, estimated at 600 million.

Slim was honoured with a State funeral in 2003, it was attended by one of the
largest funeral crowds in the history of Sydney, farewell Slim.