Banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter and teacher from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, who taught himself to play by ear but was taught to sight-read by his mother, who was an organist. He attended Altamont High School, Duke University, and Fairmont Teachers College.
Scott performed radio stations such as WMMN and WRVA and then was invited by Bradley Kincaid to join him on WLS. This led to a gig on the National Barn Dance, Chicago’s answer to the Grand Ole Opry.
It also led to romance. The show featured a musical comedienne named Lulu Belle, who did an act with Red Foley. Red’s wife was jealous, so the station kept the peace by pairing Lulu with Scott. They hit it off right away, figuratively and literally. By 1934, their recordings of “Home Coming Time in Happy Valley” and “Whippoorwill Time” were receiving regular airplay. They were billed, appropriately, as the Sweethearts of Country Music.
On 13th December 1934, Lulu and Scott were married. As their stars rose, so did the ratings for National Barn Dance. The program enjoyed a listenership of approximately twenty million people.
Then, Lulu and Scott expanded into film. In 1938, they appeared in Shine on Harvest Moon with Mary Hart and Roy Rogers. These were followed by Country Fair, Hi, Neighbor, Sing, Neighbor, Sing, and Swing Your Partner.
In the 1940s, Lulu and Scott took a brief respite from National Barn Dance to star on WLW’s Boone County Jamboree in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The hits kept on coming: “Dontcha” “Tell Her You Love Her”, “That New Vitamine”, “Time Will Tell”, and “You Don’t Love Me Like You Used to Do” had Lulu Belle and Scott fans singing along in the mid-1940s.
They returned to Chicago in the late ‘40s and rejoined the National Barn Dance, as well as appearing on the small screen on WNBQ-TV. This was complemented by their own radio show on WLS, entitled Breakfast in the Blue Ridge. They also guest-starred on other shows such as the Grand Ole Opry and Red Foley’s Ozark Jamboree.
In the late 1950s, they ended their long tenure with the National Barn Dance and Scott attended Northwestern University, from whence he obtained his Master’s degree in education. Lulu and Scott moved to his home town and he joined the faculty of Spruce Pine College, where he taught speech. They continued to release albums on the Stardaylabel, with titles such as Down Memory Lane and Lulu Belle and Scotty.
In 1971, Scott was enshrined in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died of a heart attack in 1981.
One of his most famous compositions is “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?”. The song was famously recorded by Elvis Presley in 1957 and included on the soundtrack of Loving You. It was also covered by Rick Nelson, Rod Stewart, Porter Wagoner & Skeeter Davis, and Kitty Wells & Red Foley.
Lulu and Scott are buried side by side in the cemetery at Pine Grove Methodist Church, which was the inspiration for “Home Coming Time in Happy Valley”.
Paul Buskirk recordings
Remember Me (Scott Wiseman)
Stoneway No. 1138-B LH-14867
Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_Belle_and_Scotty
- http://www.lazyka.com/linernotes/personel/WeismanScott.htm
- http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wls/1934/scott_wiseman.html
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdGH23FnsDc
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtF3FPcM2bI
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG9wdMht1Og