Nashville, Tennessee (Gannett)-- Country Music Hall of Famer Ferlin Husky, the innovative recording artist whose 1957 smash "Gone" helped usher in the pop-leaning Nashville Sound era, died Thursday at his daughter's home in Westmoreland, Tenn. He was 85 and suffered from congestive heart failure.
Mr. Husky's classic singles "Gone" and "Wings of a Dove" each topped country charts for 10 straight weeks, and each became Top 20 pop records. A well-rounded performer, Husky also starred in motion pictures, but he is best known for his contributions in sweetening the sound of Music Row in a way that allowed the music to appeal to twang-phobic audiences.
"By reaching #4 on the pop charts, 'Gone' demonstrated what became the ultimate goal for Nashville producers: A country hit that could 'cross over' to pop success," wrote Rich Kienzle in the liner notes to Mr. Husky's Vintage collection of Capitol Records material.
In addition to scoring hit records, Husky was a master of stagecraft, a dashing and energetic performer who impressed audiences and fellow artists. "There were a lot of years when nobody in the business could follow Ferlin Husky,"
Merle Haggard told The Tennessean last year. "He was the big live act of the day. A great entertainer." Born Dec. 3, 1925, on a farm in Cantwell, Mo., Husky dreamed of a music career from childhood.
He spent five years in the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II, then worked at a Missouri radio station in the late 1940s before moving to California to chase his fondest aspirations. In Bakersfield, Calif., he worked as a disc jockey and sang in area clubs, and in 1950 he began his recording career, releasing songs on the Four Star label under the name "Terry Preston." Husky's first Top Five solo country hit was "Cuzz You're So Sweet," a novelty number he recorded as Simon Crum.
Throughout Husky's career, the odd-talking "Simon" with his drawling, high-pitched voice, was featured during stage performances. In 1955, Husky joined the Grand Ole Opry and moved to Nashville, setting the stage for "Gone." With the success of "Gone," Husky became a national presence. He starred in movies such as Forty Acre Feud and Hillbillies in a Haunted House, and served as a guest-host for two weeks CBS's The Arthur Godfrey Show.
"For a while there, I was all the way across that radio dial," Husky said. "Elvis Presley opened shows that I headlined, and I got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." The song's success helped bring country music into the pop mainstream. It helped Nashville producers seeking to reach listeners who were interested neither in the twangy honky-tonk country of the early 1950s nor the swaggering rock 'n' roll sounds of Presley and others.
The new "Nashville Sound" provided a commercially viable alternative to the rock surge and it served as a precursor to the cross-genre successes of new century hit-makers such as Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift.
Husky suffered heart problems in recent years. He underwent leg surgery in 2007 at St. John's Hospital in Springfield after circulation problems. Husky is survived by eight children and many grandchildren.
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