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James Cecil Dickens 1920 - 2015

James Cecil Dickens was born on December 19, 1920 in Bolt, WV, and died at age 94 years old on January 2, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee United States.

James Cecil Dickens
Little Jimmy Dickens
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December 19, 1920
Bolt, WV
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January 2, 2015
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
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Updated: January 3, 2020
Biography ID: 192769595 What's this
James Cecil Dickens James Dickens (1920 - 2015)
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James Cecil Dickens' History: 1920 - 2015

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  • Introduction

    Little Jimmy Dickens stood just 4’10” tall but, wearing the right boots and hat—a white straw Stetson with a 5.5” crown—he towered at 5’5". Known for his small stature, his comic songs, and his rhinestone-studded “Nudie suits,” Dickens has been called country music’s foremost entertainer and was the first country musician to circle the globe on a world tour. Though he never had a consistent presence in the upper levels of the country charts, Dickens had a reputation as an outstanding ballad singer and managed to have hits in every decade between 1940 and 1980. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. The eldest of 13 children, James Cecil Dickens was born at home in the tiny unincorporated town of Bolt, deep in the coal-mining region of southern West Virginia. He was raised by his grandparents and spent Saturday nights gathered around a battery-powered radio, listening to the Grand Ole Opry. In 1938, while still in high school, he began appearing on radio station WJLS-Beckley, where he opened the morning show by crowing like a rooster. Well now, that rooster crow goes way back. That rooster crow was before they let me sing! My uncle and two of his buddies had a fifteen-minute program on WJLS and they'd take me with ‘em. One day the manager said, “We need somebody to crow like a rooster.” I said, “You got him right here!” Dickens spent the next ten years performing on stations throughout the Midwest, often capitalizing on his diminutive size to play roles much younger than his actual age, and it was during a stint on WIBC-Indianapolis that T. Texas Tyler dubbed him “Little Jimmy.” In 1946, Roy Acuff heard him perform in Cincinnati and was impressed. Two years later, Acuff invited him to Nashville; he introduced Dickens to Art Satherly at Columbia Records and officials from the Grand Ole Opry. Dickens joined the Opry in August and signed with Columbia in September. Columbia released their first Dickens single, “Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait,” that February. It peaked at No. 7 and kicked off a string of hits for Dickens. His biggest, “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose,” came in 1965 and reached No. 1 on the country music charts and No. 15 on the pop charts. Famous for such novelty songs, Dickens also excelled as a singer of more serious pieces. His “heart” songs – “Take Me As I Am,” “We Could,” “Just When I Needed You,” and others – are “some of the best ballads the industry had to offer,” biographer Eddie Stubbs argues, “interpreted by one of the genre’s most emotion packed voices.” Toward the end of Dickens’s life, fellow West Virginia native Brad Paisley included him in a number of country music videos and featured him on several CDs, along with other Opry mainstays George Jones and Bill Anderson, calling themselves “the Kung-Pao Buckaroos.” He continued to make regular appearances as a host on the Opry. His last appearance on the show was just days before he suffered the stroke that would lead to his death, a week later. At his passing, Little Jimmy Dickens had been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 66 years, longer than any other country artist in history. Born: December 19, 1920, Bolt, West Virginia; Died: January 2, 2015, Nashville, Tennessee
  • 12/19
    1920

    Birthday

    December 19, 1920
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    Bolt, WV
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  • Professional Career

    Famous Country Singer who played guitar and wrote funny songs.
  • 01/2
    2015

    Death

    January 2, 2015
    Death date
    Unknown
    Cause of death
    Nashville, Tennessee United States
    Death location
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11 Memories, Stories & Photos about James

James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
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01/03/2020
James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
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01/03/2020
James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens
Photo of Amanda S. Stevenson Amanda S. Stevenson
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01/03/2020
James Cecil Dickens
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James Cecil Dickens Dec 19, 1920 - Jan 2, 2015
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Other Biographies

Other James Dickens Biographies

Dickens, James (Nov 5, 1926 - May 26, 2008) Dickens, James (Jun 6, 1945 - Sep 18, 2006) Dickens, James (Jan 11, 1926 - Jul 29, 2005) Dickens, James (May 1, 1926 - Dec 23, 1973) Dickens, James (Jan 17, 1917 - Jul 1976) Dickens, James (Aug 2, 1886 - Jan 15, 1974) Dickens, James (Sep 15, 1938 - Mar 1987) Dickens, James (Apr 24, 1935 - Nov 12, 2002) Dickens, James (May 10, 1910 - Dec 1972) Dickens, James (Dec 28, 1914 - Sep 30, 2010)
Dickens, James (Jul 26, 1914 - Apr 1987) Dickens, James (Jan 3, 1947 - Dec 15, 2000) Dickens, James (Oct 14, 1921 - Jan 1975) Dickens, James (Nov 23, 1925 - Apr 1980) Dickens, James (Feb 2, 1925 - Nov 27, 2000) Dickens, James (Jul 4, 1925 - Nov 8, 2007) Dickens, James (Dec 29, 1890 - Feb 1975) Dickens, James (Sep 28, 1901 - Mar 1971) Dickens, James (Sep 24, 1927 - Apr 24, 1993) Dickens, James (Dec 27, 1948 - Dec 20, 1992)

Other Dickens Family Biographies

Dickens, Rhoda Elizabeth Anne (Born Jun 1832) Dickens, Anne (Born Feb 9, 1898) Dickens, Fredrick (Born Oct 10, 1894) Dickens, William (Born Jan 1, 1896) Dickens, Jacob (May 26, 1906 - Jan 1977) Dickens, Benjamin (Born Sep 16, 1913) Dickens, L:eroy (1928 - Mar 12, 1991) Dickens, Naomi (Born Nov 6, 1915) Dickens, Thomas (Born Dec 5, 1871) Dickens, Gladys (Born Mar 19, 1911)
Dickens, James (Born Feb 12, 1904) Graves, Susannah (1665 - 1747) Dickens, Charles (Jan 6, 1837 - Jul 20, 1896) Dickens, Walter (Feb 8, 1841 - Dec 31, 1863) Dickens, Francis (Jan 15, 1844 - Jun 11, 1886) Dickens, Alfred (Oct 28, 1845 - Jan 2, 1912) Dickens, Sydney (Apr 18, 1847 - May 2, 1872) Dickens, Henry (Jan 16, 1849 - Dec 21, 1933) Dickens, Dora (Aug 16, 1850 - Apr 14, 1851) Dickens, Edward (Mar 13, 1852 - Jan 23, 1902)
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