About Cowboy Copas

Born Lloyd Estel Copas in 1913, Copas started playing fiddle around his home state of Ohio when he was just 14 years old. It was on a dare he wound up in Cincinnati, where he entered a contest and ended up performing on radio stations WLW and, later, WKRC. By 1940, he'd moved on to WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he began performing with the Gold Star Rangers. Three years later, he was selected to replace Eddy Arnold as the lead vocalist for Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys on WSM and, of course, the Grand Ole Opry. In 1946, he signed with King Records and recorded his debut single, "Filipino Baby," which topped the charts at #4. For the next several years, he continued performing on the Opry, as well as recording several charting hits, including "Tennessee Waltz" and the 1952 classic, "'Tis Sweet To Be Remembered." His somewhat up-and-down career was cut tragically short on March 5, 1963, when his private plane (also carrying Hawkshaw Hawkins and the great Patsy Cline) went down, killing all on board.