Rusty Draper   -  Biography

Farrell Draper, Kirksville, Missouri, USA. Draper entered showbusiness at the age of 12, singing and playing his guitar on radio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For the next five years, he worked on various stations including Des Moines, Iowa and Quincy, Illinois. He then became the Master of Ceremonies and vocalist at the Mel Hertz Club in San Francisco. He eventually moved to Hermie King's Rumpus Room in the same city, where he stayed for the next seven years. In 1953, his recording of "Gambler's Guitar" reached number 6 on both the US country and pop charts and gave him his first million-seller. A second gold record followed in 1955 for his version of "Shifting, Whispering Sands", which reached number 3 in the pop charts but surprisingly did not even make the country chart at all (a cover version by Eamonn Andrews made the UK Top 20). During the 50s, he had further US Top 40 pop hits with "Seventeen" (1955), "Are You Satisfied" (1955), "In The Middle Of The House" (1956) and a US cover version of the UK skiffle hit "Freight Train" (1957). He did, however, have modest UK pop chart success in 1960 with his version of "Muleskinner Blues", which peaked at number 39. In 1962, he joined Monument Records and reached the US pop charts with "Night Life" in 1963. He did not achieve further US country chart successes until the late 60s, when he had very minor hits with "My Elusive Dreams", "California Sunshine" and "Buffalo Nickel". "Two Little Boys" gave him another minor US hit in 1970, the last for 10 years, when "Harbour Lights", an unlikely country song, became his last chart entry. During his career, he has also undertaken several acting roles, including appearances in some television western series such as Rawhide and Laramie, and stage musicals including Oklahoma and Annie Get Your Gun. He died on March 28, 2003.