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Rex Allen
Born:  December 31, 1920
Died:  December 17, 1999
Hollywood Walk of Fame (1975)
Western Music Association Hall of Fame (1989)
WLS National Barn Dance
WNEW New York, NY
WCAU Philadelphia, PA (1944)
WTTM Trenton, NJ (1944)
WLS Chicago, IL (1945)


About The Artist

work-in-progress...
He was born Rex Elvie Allen in an area about 40 miles north of Wilcox, Arizona known as Mud Springs Canyon. His parents were Horace Allen and Faye Clark Allen. He said to have started his musical journey doing vaudeville on the east coast. And later moved on to fame with the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago and in Hollywood where he was the last of the singing cowboys of the old western movie genre.

Married his wife, Bonnie, at the WLS studios it seems. Before coming to WLS, he was a chief inspector at a large plant that assembled war planes. Bonnie, was formerly Bonnie Linder, of the Linder Sisters or Connie and Bonnie as they were known, from Nebraska.

Marriages

Doing research one finds that it is often not easy to piece together some aspects of a person's life. It appears that Rex was married four times.

Rex appears to have gone to the east coast at an early age. When he was 19 years old, he had married one Doris Windsor who was 18. It appears that they had one daughter, Rexie Faye. We do not know when they were divorced. Our research indicates she later moved to Florida, remarried and passed away in November 2010. The daughter was born December 30, 1940 which would explain why she doesn't show up on the 1940 census rolls for New Jersey as did Rex Elvie and Doris at her parents address. Further research indicates Rexie Faye died in April 2007.

Rex's career took him to Chicago and WLS. In 1946, things were happening for him. He married Bonnie Linder, who was also working at WLS, on August 25, 1946. Rex and Bonnie had three children:

  • Rex, Jr., born August 23, 1947
  • Curtis, born January 24, 1950; died
  • Mark Wayne, born June 1, 1954; died January 22, 2007
  • Bonita Kay, born December 28, 1963
Their marriage ended in divorce around 1979.

Rex's third marriage was on April 9, 1983 to Jeannine Heldnbrand in Santa Barbara, California. Other online records of that marriage show her name as Jeannine Oliver. This marriage appears to have lasted less than two years.

His fourth and last marriage was to

Credits & Sources

  • Hillbilly Hit Parade of 1941; Southern Music Pub. Co. Inc.; New York, NY
  • Portions of Discography Listing courtesy of Hillbilly Reasearcher Team; Tricker, Turner and Sax

Sound Sample—(YouTube Video Format)


Streets of Laredo

Appearance History This Month

March 10, 1968


Tuscon, AZ
Rex Allen

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Recordings (78rpm/45rpm)

 
Decca
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  27876 A Ragtime Melody
  27876 B Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Tucky Home
  28146 A Rack Up The Balls,Boys
  28146 B Till The Well Runs Dry
  28341 A Two-Faced Clock
  28341 B Jambalaya (On The Bayou)
  28446 A No One Will Ever Know
  28446 B Hootin' And Howlin'
  28556 A Knocking On The Door
  28556 B Why,My Darlin',Why
  28758 A Crying In The Chapel
  28758 B I Thank The Lord
  28897 A To Be Alone
  28897 B If God Can Forgive You,So Can I
  28933 A Why,Daddy?
  28933 B Where Did My Snow Man Go?
  28998 A He Played The Steel Guitar
  28998 B Somewhere
  29111 A Bringing Home The Bacon
  29111 B I Could Cry My Heart Out
  29168 A In The Chapel In The Moonlight
  29168 B Chapel Of Memories
  29254 A This Ole House
  29254 B Two Texas Boys (w/Tex Williams)
  29297 A You Took My Name
  29297 B I'm Learning To Live
  29397 A Tomorrow's Another Day To Cry
  29397 B L-O-N-E-S-O-M-E Letter Blues
  29586 A That's What Makes The Juke Box Play
  29586 B Pedro Gonzales Tennessee Lopez
  29610 A Daddy, You Know What
  29610 B The Albino Stallion
  29729 A The Last Roundup (w/The Victor Strings)
  29871 B The Last Frontier (w/The Victor Strings)
  30364 A Flower Of San Antone
  30364 B Money, Marbles And Chalk
  30511 A Blue Dream
  30511 B The Blue Light Waltz
  32072 A A Woman
  32072 B The Waltz That Never Ends
  32401 A Bummin' Around
  32401 B When I Leave This world Behind
 
Mercury
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  6008 A Atomic Power
  6008 B You Started Honky Tonkin'
  6015 A Don't Turn Your Back On Me
  6015 B Texas Tornado
  6017 A Driftwood On The River
  6017 B Look At Me Now
  6021 A After Your Sunshine Turns To Rain
  6021 B Queen Of The Rodeo
  6034 A A Broken Promise Means A Broken Heart
  6034 B Foggy River
  6049 A Feudin' And Fightin'
  6049 B Take It Back And Change It For A Boy
  6060 A Border Serenade
  6060 B Lord Protect My Darlin'
  6061 A I Went Out And Got A Bucket For My Tears
  6061 B Queen Of The Rodeo
  6063 A Clarinet Polka
  6063 B Flip Side By Polka Chips
  6078 A Loaded Pistol
  6078 B That Little Boy Of Mine
  6091 A Hawaiian Cowboy
  6091 B Take It Back And Change It For A Boy
  6095 A Slap Her Down Again, Paw
  6095 B Teardrops In My Heart
  6122 A Chime Bells
  6122 B Miranda Doakes
  6136 A Empty Christmas Stocking
  6136 B Tears On My Old Guitar
  6140 A Happy Mary Polka
  6140 B Who Shot The Hole In My Sombrero
  6171 A Tennessee Tears
  6171 B Song Of The Hills
  6192 A Afraid
  6192 B Cottage In The Clouds
  6203 A Arizona Waltz
  6203 B Tell Me Little Darlin'
  6214 A Over Three Hills
  6214 B I'm So Alone With The Crowd
  6221 A Blues In My Mind
  6221 B Little Brown Shoes
  6228 A A Petal From A Faded Rose
  6228 B I Gotta Have My Baby Back
  6231 A Broken Down Merry Go Round
  6231 B Tag Along
  6252 A Dixie Boogie
  6252 B Put Your Arms Around Me
  6258 A Farther Along
  6258 B Softly And Tenderly
  6269 A Don't Cha
  6269 B Yodelin' Crazy
  6271 B Afraid
  6278 A Driftwood On The River
  6278 B That Little Boy Of Mine
  6285 A Teardrops In My Heart
  6285 B There's Only One Kind Of Red, White And Blue
  6286 A Honolulu Boogie
  6286 B Too Lee Rollup
  6297 A I Ain't Gonna Cry No More
  6297 B You Drifted Away
  6349 A Albuquerque Polka
  6349 B Naggin'
 
Sparton
Rec. No. Side Song Title
  781 A Say One For Me
  781 B Lazy River
  798 A The Little Old Church In The Valley
  798 B Morgen (One More Sunrise)
  825 A Swamp Fox
  825 B Bronco Boogie
  826 A Forever And Ever
  826 B Staying Young


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