33 Facts About Hank Snow

Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music singer and songwriter.

Hank Snow recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980.

Hank Snow's music was rooted in his beginnings in small-town Nova Scotia where, as a frail, 80-pound youngster, he endured extreme poverty, physical and psychological abuse as well as physically punishing labour during the Great Depression.

Hank Snow's mother provided the emotional support and encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming an entertainer like his idol, the country star, Jimmie Rodgers.

Hank Snow was the son of George Snow and Maude Marie Hatt in the small community of Brooklyn in Queens County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Hank Snow was the fifth of six children, of whom the two eldest died in infancy.

Hank Snow's parents were married on November 10,1909, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

George Hank Snow worked for low pay as a foreman in sawmills, often far from home, while Marie helped support the family by washing clothes and scrubbing floors in better-off homes.

Hank Snow enjoyed playing her own pump organ, but refused several offers to join travelling shows because of her dedication to the family.

Hank Snow himself went to live with his paternal grandmother who ordered him never to mention his mother's name and subjected him to severe beatings as well as psychological abuse.

Gradually, Hank Snow began to sneak away to visit his mother in nearby Liverpool and eventually, after his grandmother failed in her attempt to get him sent to reform school, he was allowed to rejoin his mother.

In 1926, Hank Snow found work by joining a fishing schooner where he served as a "flunky" or cabin boy.

Hank Snow was allowed to cut out cod tongues and sell them later along with any fish he caught from the deck.

In 1927 or 1928, Hank Snow remembers hearing radio broadcasts while at sea.

Once ashore in Canso, Hank Snow vowed he would never return to the open sea again.

Hank Snow returned to live with his mother and stepfather, again without holding down steady work.

Hank Snow soon became pregnant and gave birth to their only child, Jimmie Rodgers Snow.

At one point, Hank Snow spotted a picture of a guitar for $12.95 in Eaton's catalogue.

Hank Snow figured he could sell his old guitar for five dollars, but - since he still wasn't working - wondered how he would raise the additional $7.95.

Hank Snow offered to pay Snow two dollars per wheel.

Hank Snow sang and played in an old fishhouse where local men stored their gear.

Soon, Hank Snow was invited to perform in a minstrel show in Bridgewater to help raise money for charity.

In March 1933, Hank Snow wrote to Halifax radio station CHNS asking for an audition.

Hank Snow played in Halifax theatres before the movies started and performed, for $10 a week, on a CHNS musical show sponsored by a company that manufactured a popular laxative.

Hank Snow spent his entire career with RCA Victor, recording for the label until 1981.

Snow moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1949, and "Hank Snow, the Singing Ranger", made his first records in the United States for RCA Victor in 1949.

Hank Snow used Presley as his opening act and introduced him to Colonel Tom Parker.

Tom Parker [Hank Snow refused to recognize the honorary title "Colonel"] was the most egotistical, obnoxious human being I've ever had dealings with.

Hank Snow was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985.

In 1996, Hank Snow began experiencing respiratory problems which forced him to retire from performing.

Hank Snow died three years later on December 20,1999, at his Rainbow Ranch in Madison, Tennessee, at age 85, and was interred in Nashville's Spring Hill Cemetery.

At 59 years and 11 months, Hank Snow became the oldest country artist to have a top song on the chart.

Hank Snow is played by Australian actor David Wenham in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.