Billy Vaughn
William Richard "Billy" Vaughn (April 12, 1919 – September 26, 1991) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader, and A&R man for Dot Records.
Biography
He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, where his father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at the age of three, while suffering from measles. He went on to learn a number of other instruments.
In 1941 Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was sent abroad till the war ended in 1945. He decided to make music a career when he was discharged from the army at the end of the war, and attended Western Kentucky State College, now known as Western Kentucky University, majoring in music composition. He had apparently learned barbering from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges. While he was a student there, three other students, Jimmy Sacca, Donald McGuire, and Seymour Spiegelman, who had formed a vocal trio, the Hilltoppers, recruited Vaughn to play the piano with them. He soon added his voice to theirs, converting the trio to a quartet. As a member of the group, he also wrote their first hit song, "Trying," which charted in 1952.
Podcasts:
Billy Vaughn
ALBUMS
- Christmas Carols released: 2008
- Sail Along Silvery Moon released: 1997
- Christmas With Billy Vaughn & The Strings of Paris released: 1996
- Greatest Hits released: 1992
- White Christmas released: 1986
- Moonlight Melodies released: 1984
- Christmas Songs released: 1978
- Mexican Pearls released: 1965
- Golden Waltzes released: 1961
- Billy Vaughn Plays Stephen Foster released: 1959
- Sail Along Silv’ry Moon released: 1958
- Best of Billy Vaughn released:
- Greatest Hits released:
- String of Pearls: Billy Vaughn's Greatest Hits released:
- Sail Along Sil'ry Moon / Wheels released:
- Christmas With Billy Vaughn released:
- Gold released:
- Billy Vaughn Plays 22 of His Greatest Hits released:
- Melody of Love: The Best of Billy Vaughn released:
Christmas Carols
Released 2008- White Christmas
- It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- O Holy Night
- Deck the Halls
- The First Noel
- Joy to the World
- O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
- Silent Night
- God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
- O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- Faith of Our Fathers
- Jingle Bells
- O Little Town of Bethlehem
Sail Along Silvery Moon
Released 1997- Autumn Concerto / and That Reminds Me
- Spanish Diary
- Angel Angel
- For You and You Alone
- Autumn Leaves
- O, Mein Papa
- Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White
- Pretend
- Third Man Theme
- Lisabon Antiqua
- Ebbtide
- Bewitched
- Poor People of Paris
- Unchained Melody
- Blue Tango
- Song From Moulin Rouge
- The Left Bank
- The Sweetheart Polka
- When the White Lilacs Bloom Again
- Morning Mist
- Waltz of the Angels
- Romantique
- La la Colette
- Creole Love Call
- Petticoats of Portugal
- Peg o' My Heart
- Laura
- Heartaches
- I'm Looking Over a Four Leave Clover
- Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
- Belinda
Christmas With Billy Vaughn & The Strings of Paris
Released 1996- Silent Night
- O Tannenbaum
- Jingle Bells
- Oh Holy Night
- Adeste Fideles
- O Little Town of Bethlehem
- The First Noel
- Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
- Joy to the World
- Amazing Grace
- Auld Lang Sane
- White Christmas
- Winter Wonderland
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- The Christmas Song
Best of Billy Vaughn
- Swingin' Safari
- Blue Hawaii
- Melody of Love
- Wheels
- Holiday for Strings
- Fascination
- Wonderland by Night
- Raunchy
- La Paloma
- The Shifting Whispering Sands, Part 1
- The Shifting Whispering Sands, Part 2
- Sail Along Silv'ry Moon
- Canadian Sunset
- Theme From the Threepenny Opera
- When the Lilac's Bloom Again
- Tumbling Tumbleweeds
- Singing Hills
- Cimarron
- Hawaiian War Chant
- Look for a Star
Sail Along Sil'ry Moon / Wheels
- Sail Along Silv'ry Moon
- Sunrise Serenade
- Sweet Georgia Brown
- Sentimental Journey
- Until Tomorrow
- Jealous
- Raunchy
- Twilight Time
- Sleepytime Gal
- I'm Getting Sentimental Over You
- Moon Over Miami
- Tumbling Tumbleweeds
- Wheels
- Orange Blossom Special
- Are You Lonesome Tonight
- Marie
- My Dear
- C'est si bon
- Lazy River
- The Whiffenpoof Song
- Sorrento
- Green Grass of Texas
- Summertime
- It's a Lonesome Old Town
Gold
- Magic Moments
- Strangers in the Night
- Love Story
- My Sweet Lord
- Greensleeves
- Hotel California
- Green Green Grass of Home
- Una Paloma Blanca
- Sweet Caroline
- Fernando
- Spanish Eyes
- Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Amazing Grace
- El Condor Pasa
- When I Need You
- Somewhere My Love
- The Windmills of Your Mind
- Red Roses for a Blue Lady
Billy Vaughn Plays 22 of His Greatest Hits
- Love Letters in the Sand
- Pearly Shells
- Summer Place
- Red Sails in the Sunset
- Fascination
- Isle of Capri
- Harborlights
- Wonderland by Night
- Take Me Home Country Roads
- For All We Know
- Tiny Bubbles
- Moonlight Bay
- Stranger on the Shore
- Hawaiian War Chant
- Blue Tango
- In the Mood
- Sail Along Silvery Moon
- Let Me Call You Sweetheart
- It's a Lonesome Old Town
- Blue Hawaii
- Sway
- I'll See You in My Dreams
Melody of Love: The Best of Billy Vaughn
- Sail Along Silv'ry Moon
- When the White Lilacs Bloom Again
- Melody of Love
- The Shifting Whispering Sands (1 of 2)
- Tumbling Tumbleweeds
- Blue Hawaii
- Pearly Shells
- La Paloma
- Look for a Star
- Paper Roses
- Wheels
- The Green Leaves of Summer
- Moon Over Naples (Spanish Eyes)
- Wooden Heart
- The Sundowners
- A Swingin' Safari
- Orange Blossom Special
- Michelle
Born: 1919-04-12
Died: 1991-09-26
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The Shifting Whispering Sands Part 1
by: Billy VaughnI discovered the valley of the shifting, whispering sands
While prospecting for gold in one of our western States
I saw the silent windmills, the crumbling water tanks
The bones of cattle and burros, picked clean by buzzards
Bleached by the desert suns
I stumbled over a crumbling buckboard nearly covered by the sands
And stopping to rest, I heard a tinkling, whispering sound
Then suddenly realized that even though the wind was quiet
The sand did not lie still
I seemed to be surround by a mystery
So heavy and oppressive I could scarcely breath
For days and weeks I wandered aimlessly in this valley
Seeking answers to the many questions
That raced through my fevered mind
Where was everyone
Why the white bones
The dry wells
The barren valley where people must have lived and died
Finally I could go no farther
My food and water gone
I sat down and buried my face in my hands
And resting thus, I learned the secret
Of the Shifting, whispering sands
How I managed to escape from the valley I do not know
But now to pay my final debt for being spared
I must tell you what I learned out on the desert
So many years ago
When the day is awfully quiet
And the breeze seems not to blow
One would think the sand was resting
But you'll find this is not so
It is whispering, softly whispering
As it slowly moves along
And for those who stop and listen
It will sing this mournful song
Of sidewinders and the horn toads
Of the thorny chaparral
Endless sunny days and moonlit nights
The coyotes lonely yell
Of the stars seem you could tough them
As you lay and gaze on high
At the heavens where we're hoping
We'll be going when we die
Yes it always whispers to me
Of the days of long ago
When the settlers and the miners
Fought the crafty Navajo
How the cattle roamed the valley
Happy people worked the land
And now everything is covered
By the shifting, whispering sands
How the miner left his buckboards
Went to work his claims that day
And the burro's broke their halters
When they thought he'd gone to stay
Wandered far in search of water
On to old sidewinder's well
And there, their bones picked clean by buzzards
That were circling when they fell
How they found the ancient miner
Lying dead upon the sand
After months they could but wonder
If he died by human hand
So they dug his grave and laid him
On his back and crossed his hands
And his secret still is hidden
By the shifting, whispering sands
This is what they whispered to me
On the quiet desert air
Of the people and the cattle
And the miner lying there
If you want to learn their secret
Wander through this quiet land
And I'm sure you'll hear the story
Of the shifting, whispering sands
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