Leroy Van Dyke Walk On By

Leroy Van Dyke

Born on October 4, 1929 in Spring Fork, Missouri, USA. Studied animal husbandry and journalism at the University of Columbia until 1952. kEUR

He was a participant in the Korean War, where he also appeared on the ground with Marilyn Monroe as an entertainer of troops. Came to the US charts in 1956 with'Auctioneer' (rank 29) on Dot Records, was a permanent guest on TV music shows. In 1961 he went to Nashville, switched to Mercury Records and had a No.-5 goal with'Walk On By'.

In 1962 the German version'Don't go by' was also recorded in the country Mecca, but it flopped here (Rex Gildo skimmed off the cream, which put him on rank 14 of the hit parade). Van Dyke became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, performed live with his band The Auctioneers. Today he lives with his second wife Gladys as a farmer in Spring Fork and is a sporadic guest in country & western shows. From the Bear Family book - 1000 pinpricks by Bernd Matheja - BFB10025 -

Leroy Van Dyke

A native of Spring Fork, Missouri, LEROY VAN DYKE served in Korea as a counter-intelligence agent before he considered a musical career. During his army service he wrote a song based on his cousin's auctioneering experiences and sang it on the Morris B. Sacks' Amateur Hour on WGN-TV, Chicago. He lost the contest but won a Dot recording contract.

The Auctioneer went Top 10 Country and Top 30 Pop in 1957. There were no more hits on Dot as Van Dyke forsook novelties for lightweight rockabilly. "I didn't particularly like it," he told Rich Kienzle, "but they wanted me to record it...Wood tried to push me into a rockabilly thing that was really out in left field and none of that stuff worked."

What did work was Walk On By, which brought Van Dyke back to the charts on Mercury in 1961. From his Dot recordings, though, we've picked Chicken Shack, a version of Amos Milburn's Chicken Shack Boogie from 1949, that (pace Van Dyke) works a treat. The rest of his Dot recordings can be found on 'The Auctioneer' (BCD 15647).