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Posted by Doris Gath
on January 24, 2008, 10:00 am, in reply to "Re: Slim Whitman is ALIVE and Well"
4.232.42.132
Yaay! I am SO happy to hear that Slim is alive and well. He has always been one of Elmer and my favorite singers. I wonder if his son Byron is still entertaining? He sounds a lot like his dad.
Always for Jim, Doris
--Previous Message--
: Thank you Julie, for clearing this up.
: Maureen.
:
: --Previous Message--
: A few days ago Arie den Dulk, who is the
: self-appointed "secretary" of a
: small Holland-based (unauthorized) Jim
: Reeves fan club, rushed to post the news on
: his website that Slim Whitman had died. Some
: of you have commented on this in the posts
: below but I did not confirm this news
: because my sources were telling me Slim was
: alive and well. Apparently the rumor got
: started in an email that was widely
: circulated and Mr. Den Dulk never bothered
: to check it out. He wasn't the only one.
: News reports even claimed that Slim had
: passed away.
:
: I try to avoid ever printing rumors on my
: site.
:
: This all reminds me of Mark Twain's humorous
: quote that "Reports of my death have
: been greatly exaggerated."
:
: Here is the story from the Nashville
: Tennessean:
:
: SLIM WHITMAN TALKS ABOUT
: REPORTS OF HIS DEATH
:
: Slim Whitman would like to clear something
: up: He�s alive and doing pretty well despite
: reports of his death on Monday.
:
: The country singer, who experienced his
: first surge in popularity in the �50s, has
: no idea how it got started. But e-mails
: began circulating and next thing you know, a
: disc jockey was announcing it on the air, a
: tearful friend performing on stage was
: announcing it to his audience and online
: sources reported it in news updates,
: including Tennessean.com on Monday.
:
: �All of a sudden on Sunday, Jan. 20, I
: died,� said Whitman, who turned 84 on
: Sunday. �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�ll go on a TV show and show
: them that I�m not dead.�
:
: Whitman, a Grand Ole Opry guest in the
: mid-1950s, has traveled the world spreading
: his brand of country music, enjoying chart
: success in England in particular. Known for
: his high falsetto on songs such as �Indian
: Love Call� and �Secret Love,� Whitman toured
: last in 2002. But that�s not because of his
: physical condition.
:
: �The wife is on dialysis, so she can�t go. I
: would not go back to England and leave her,
: so I just tell them I can�t go. I take care
: of her,� he said. Whitman met his wife Jerry
: when she was 13, and they�ve been married 66
: years. She bought him his first guitar and
: was his announcer as he started in radio. �I
: would probably not have gone on radio if it
: hadn�t been for the wife�. She is probably
: the reason I was in show business.�
:
: Whitman lives on his Woodpecker Paradise
: estate outside Jacksonville, Fla. He says
: he�s in great shape. The only medication he
: takes is an aspirin every other day because
: his doctor told him to. He doesn�t even wear
: glasses.
:
: �As a matter of fact I don�t feel anything
: like 84 years old. �I don�t know why I
: don�t, but I don�t feel like an old man,� he
: said. The fact that people recognize him in
: the grocery store still leads him to believe
: he doesn�t look like an old man either.
:
: This morning, Whitman spent time on the air
: for a Jacksonville radio station and he has
: gotten many inquiries since the news of his
: death circulated.
:
: �It seems like every 10 years something
: weird happens like that,� said Whitman. Last
: decade, it was that the 1996 Tim Burton film
: Mars Attacks! used his voice as a
: martian-killing weapon, saving the world
: from invaders.
:
: It keeps things interesting.
:
: �I�m here," he said. "I�m happy to
: be alive.�
:
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