Spade cooley biography of albert

Born Donnell Clyde Cooley on December 17, 1910, in Pack Saddle Creek, OK; died on November 23, 1969, in Oakland, CA; son of John and Emma Cooley; married first wife, Ann, 1930s; married second wife, Ella Mae Evans, 1945 (murdered, 1961); children: John, Melody, Donnell.

Before attaining notoriety for the murder of his second wife in 1961, Spade Cooley had earned a reputation as a consummate purveyor of western swing music through live performances, audio and film recordings, and radio and television appearances.

Sometimes labeled "cowboy jazz," western swing is a hybrid of jazz and country music, combining swing orchestra instruments with such traditional country instruments as fiddles and steel guitars. Labeling himself the "King of Western Swing," Cooley led a large ensemble of musicians that rivaled Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in popularity in the 1940s' heyday of western swing.

As public musical tastes shifted in the late 1940s and 1950s, Cooley pioneered television va