Carl Albert

Carl Bert Albert (May 10, 1908 – February 4, 2000) was a lawyer and a Democratic American politician from Oklahoma.

Albert represented a southeastern Oklahoma Congressional district as a Democrat for 30 years, starting in 1947. He is best known for his service as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977. At 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 metres) tall, Albert was often affectionately known as the "Little Giant from Little Dixie", and held the highest political office of any Oklahoman in American history.

Early years, education

Albert was born in McAlester, Oklahoma. Shortly after his birth his family moved to a small town just north of McAlester called Bugtussle. He was the son of a coal miner and farmer and grew up in a log cabin on his father's farm. In high school he excelled in debate, was student body president, and won the national high school oratorical contest, earning a trip to Europe. During this time he was an active member of his local Order of DeMolay chapter and is an inductee of the Order of DeMolay Hall of Fame. Albert later petitioned his local Masonic Lodge and became an active Freemason. He entered the University of Oklahoma in 1927. There, he majored in political science and won the National Oratorical Championship in 1928, receiving an all-expense-paid trip to Europe. He earned enough money to fund the rest of his undergraduate education. While at Oklahoma, he was an accomplished amateur wrestler, a member of the Kappa Alpha Order Greek letter fraternity, and a member of the all-male spirit club. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931, was the top male student, then studied at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Bachelor of Civil Laws from St Peter's College before returning to the United States in 1934. He opened a law practice in Oklahoma City in 1935. He worked for a series of oil companies in leasing work, until the start of World War II.

Carl Albert (musician)

Carl Spencer Albert (1962–1995), simply known as Carl Albert, was an American musician, the lead singer of the band Vicious Rumors from late 1986 until 1995. He was a 1975 graduate of Columbia Elementary School in Columbia, Tuolumne County, California, and a 1979 graduate of Sonora High School, Sonora, California, also in Tuolumne County. He played lead guitar in local bands in Tuolumne County for several years, notably in Crossfire, a hard-rock band, Chaser, another hard-rock band, and Uncle Fester (with bandmate Shon Snyder), a hard-rock band.

He died on April 19, 1995 as a result of a car accident and is buried in the Sonora, California, Catholic Cemetery.

Before joining Vicious Rumors, Carl Albert played with the bands Ruffians, Villain, and Scratch.

In memory of Carl Albert, Vicious Rumors released the CD A tribute to Carl Albert (including bootleg recordings taken from the last European tour they did together) and the home-video The First Ten Years.

The Vicious Rumors song "Perpetual", included on the Something Burning album (and sung by the leader of the band Geoff Thorpe because "there is no one who can take Carl's place"), was the last track written by Carl Albert.