Spade Cooley

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Donnell Clyde 'Spade' Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American Western Swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality. His career ended when he was arrested and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.[1]

1 Show business career
2 Murder of Ella Mae Evans
3 In popular culture
4 External links

Show business career

Cooley's 18 month engagement at Santa Monica's Venice Pier Ballroom was record breaking for the early half of the 1940s. His "Shame on You", released on Columbia's OKeh label, was recorded in December of 1944, and was No. 1 on the country charts for two months. [2] "Shame on You" was the first in an unbroken string of six Top Ten singles including "Detour" and "You Can't Break My Heart". Cooley appeared in 38 westerns, both in bit parts and as a stand in for cowboy actor Roy Rogers. He also hosted a Los Angeles based syndicated television show from 1949 until 1959. The Hoffman Hayride was so popular that an estimated 75 percent of all televisions in the L.A. area were tuned into the show each Saturday night. In 1950 Cooley had significant roles in several films, and starred in two film shorts: "King of Western Swing" and "Spade Cooley & His Orchestra". He would often bill himself as the 'King of Western Swing', the title which Bob Wills is now honored with. However, Cooley's sound was closer to, and isolated in the style of conventional big band dance-oriented pop orchestras. Where as Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys used far more diverse fusions of multi-genres, through which they popularized, defined, and evolved what is now recognized as true Western Swing. This diversity allowed for Wills to reach wider audiences, as was found in Cain's Ballroom culture. Cooley's specialized, 'city sound' of the period popular culture accounts for his work having been popular with limited mainstream audiences during his 1940s and 1950s heyday, but at the same time not having enjoyed the diverse and continuing popularity of Wills.

Murder of Ella Mae Evans

In 1961, his wife expressed her wish to be divorced from him, and Cooley responded by beating her and stomping on her body until she died. During the trial Cooley suffered a heart attack while he was delivered his prison sentence. After serving his time for a while, the state of California gave him a temporary release in order to play a benefit concert for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Alameda County at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. After the performance, he suffered another heart attack in the backstage area. This time it was fatal.

In popular culture

John Gilmore has written an indepth portrait of Spade Cooley's life and tragic end in Shame on You, a segment of Gilmore's nonfiction work, L.A. Despair. Cooley is also a recurring character in James Ellroy's fiction. It has been reported that Dennis Quaid plans to make a bio-pic about Cooley. Spade Cooley is the grandfather of Mike Cooley, singer, guitarist, song writer and founding member of the psychobilly band Drive-By Truckers. Referenced in one of the classic 39 Honeymooners episodes (from Art 'Ed Norton' Carney to Jackie 'Ralph Kramden' Gleason): "They wouldn't-a won that except some guy slipped in a Spade Cooley record."