41 Years Ago Today, We Lost the Singer and Actor Who Fronted the King of Western Swing’s Band Before Launching a Legendary Solo Career

On this day (October 11) in 1985, Tex Williams died while in the Community Hospital in Newhall, California, after a battle with cancer. He was 68 years old. Williams rose to fame in the early 1940s as the singer in Spade Cooley’s band. After Cooley fired him, he and several members of the band struck out on their own. He is best remembered for his talking blues style and his No. 1 novelty song “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette).”

Sollie Paul Williams learned to sing and play guitar when he was young. By the time he was 13, he had a regular radio show. When he was 21, he moved from Decatur, Illinois, to Denison, Texas, where he took the nickname Tex and began joining regional bands. He was in Cliff Goddard’s Reno Racketeers, Peggy West’s Rocky Mountaineers, and Walt Schrum’s Colorado Hillbillies.

According to Birthplace of Western Swing, Williams started looking toward Hollywood in 1940. That year, he appeared in Rollin’ Home to Texas with Tex Ritter. Then, he starred in several B-grade western films and short serials.

Tex Williams Finds Fame with Western Swing

Despite Bob Wills still actively performing throughout California in the 1940s, Spade Cooley called himself the King of Western Swing. He and his band, the Dance Gang, routinely packed thousands of fans into the Venice Pier Ballroom. After settling in Southern California, Tex Williams joined the Dance Gang as a singer and stand-up bass player. Notably, he sang on Cooley’s 1945 No. 1 single “Shame on You.”

The next year, Capitol Records offered Williams a record deal as a solo artist. When Cooley learned about this, he fired Williams. Several members of Cooley’s band followed Williams and formed the Western Caravan.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1947, Tex Williams Recorded the Sardonic Anti-Smoking Tune That Later Became the Title Song to a Sardonic Anti-Smoking Film]

Williams released his debut single, “The California Polka,” in 1946. It went to No. 4 and kicked off a long string of hit singles. Songs like “Never Trust a Woman,” “Don’t Telephone–Don’t Telegraph (Tell a Woman),” “Suspicion,” and “Life Gets Tee-Jus, Don’t It” were top 10 hits.

Williams’ sole No. 1 single was “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette).” The anti-smoking novelty song topped the country chart for 16 consecutive weeks and reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, making it one of the biggest country hits of the century.

Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images