Cliffie Stone
| Cliffie Stone | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Clifford Gilpin Snyder |
| Born |
March 1, 1917 , United States |
| Died | January 16, 1998 (aged 80) Saugus, California |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, radio personality, television presenter |
| Labels | Capitol Records |
Clifford Gilpin Snyder (March 1, 1917 – January 16, 1998), professionally Cliffie Stone, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of California’s thriving country music scene after World War II during a career that lasted six decades. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
Born in , Stone's father was country musician Herman the Hermit. The family moved to Burbank, and early in his life, he played bass in the big bands of Freddie Slack and Anson Weeks in Southern California, as well as working at local radio stations KXLA, KFI, KFVD, KFWB and KFOX-AM 1280 in Long Beach. Starting in 1935, Stone appeared on the Los Angeles-based radio shows Covered Wagon Jubilee, Hollywood Barn Dance, Dinner Bell Roundup, and Lucky Stars, singing as well as performing comedy routines and acting as host and DJ in the mid-1940s. In 1939, he married his first wife, Dorothy, and they had four children.
Stone began working at Capitol Records in 1946, and became an A&R man there; among the talents he discovered were Tennessee Ernie Ford (for whom he acted as manager from 1947 to 1957), Molly Bee, Hank Thompson and Stan Freberg. He also worked regularly with Merle Travis after his relocation from Nashville to Hollywood. Stone was instrumental in helping various young musicians get their start in television, such as guitarist Zane Ashton (aka Bill Aken) who would also write songs for Stone's Central Songs publishing firm. His Hometown Jamboree premiered as a weekly TV broadcast in December 1949 over KLAC-TV/KCOP-TV in Los Angeles; in 1953 it moved to KTLA-TV, where it replaced a competing program hosted by Spade Cooley and itself ran until cancellation in 1959.
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