{"id":12507,"date":"2023-12-24T08:36:16","date_gmt":"2023-12-24T14:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=12507"},"modified":"2023-12-26T08:29:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T14:29:48","slug":"celebrating-slim-whitman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=12507","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Slim Whitman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Think back to Christmases in the late ’70s, and remember the Slim Whitman TV ads (All My Best<\/em>).
“[Slim] was number one in England longer than Elvis and The Beatles.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A little Wikipedia<\/a> research revealed many amazing facts about Slim Whitman<\/strong>, but here is one of most interesting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whitman <\/strong>was a self-taught left-handed guitarist, although he was right-handed. He had lost almost all of the second finger on his left hand in an accident while working at a meat packing plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a young Paul McCartney<\/strong> purchased his first guitar, the left-handed musician was unsure how to play an instrument that was manufactured and strung for a right-handed player. It was not until McCartney saw a picture of Whitman playing left-handed that he re-strung his guitar so that he too could play left-handed.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What incredible tenacity and devotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a very strange twist during his service in World War II:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[H]e did not embark on a musical career of his own until the end of World War II after he had served in the South Pacific with the United States Navy. While aboard ship, he sang and entertained members on board. This resulted in the captain blocking his transfer to another ship\u2014hence saving his life, as the other ship later sank with all hands lost.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Whitman was married to Alma Geraldine “Jerry” Crist for 67 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another interesting fact – Slim died not too long ago, in 2013, but due to a journalistic screw-up, his obituary was posted in Nashville Tennessean in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For about 24 hours, nobody knew if country singer Slim Whitman was alive or dead \u2013 at least not until he called in to a Nashville newspaper January 23rd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All of a sudden, on Sunday, January 20, I died,” the 84-year-old Whitman told the Tennessean. “I knew it was a lie. I kept looking at it. I thought, this could sort of get out of hand here. I thought, oh well, if it gets out of hand, I\u2019ll go on a TV show and show them that I\u2019m not dead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It seems like every 10 years something weird happens like that,” Whitman told the paper. “I\u2019m here. \u2026 I\u2019m happy to be alive.”<\/p>\nPollstar<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Super-trivia:<\/strong> What does Slim Whitman<\/strong> have in common with these folks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n