Google Doodle is celebrating Slim Dusty, an Australian cultural icon and country music singer-songwriter— Google Doodle is celebrating Slim Dusty, an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer who were an Australian cultural icon and one of the country’s most-awarded stars, on October 24, 2022.
Slim Dusty, AO MBE born David Gordon Kirkpatrick on 13 June 1927 in Nulla Nulla Creek west of Kempsey, New South Wales.
His childhood home, “Homewood”, survives and is currently heritage-listed. He was known by his middle name, Gordon. He composed his first song, “The Way of the Cowboy Dies”, in 1937 and adopted the stage name “Slim Dusty” in 1938 at age 11.
In 1945, Dusty wrote “When the Rain Tumbles Down in July” and released his first record that year at 19 years old. In 1946, he signed his first recording contract with Columbia Graphophone for the Regal Zonophone label.
In 1951, Slim Dusty married singer-songwriter Joy McKean and, with her help, made extraordinary progress around Australia. In 1954, the two launched a full-time business career, including the Slim Dusty Traveling Show. McKean was Dusty’s wife and manager for more than 50 years.
Joy McKean composed a few of Dusty’s most famous songs, including “Lights On The Hill”, “Walk a Country Mile”, “Indian Pacific”, “Kelly’s Offsider”, “The Angel of Goulburn Hill” and “The Biggest Disappointment”.
Slim Dusty’s 1957 hit “A Pub with No Beer” was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, the first Australian single to go gold, and the first and only 78 rpm record to be awarded a gold disc.
In 1964 the annual Slim Dusty Australia-round tour, a 48,280 kilometers (30,000 mi) journey that happened for ten months, was begun. This regular event was the subject of a feature film, The Slim Dusty Movie, in 1984.
Slim Dusty additionally recorded songs composed by himself and other fellow Australian performers yet classic Australian poems by Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson, with new tunes to point out the old “bush ballads”.
