Leroy Van Dyke

Leroy Frank Van Dyke (born October 4, 1929) is an American country music and honky-tonk singer and guitarist, best known for his hits "The Auctioneer" (1956) and "Walk On By" (1961).

Van Dyke was born in Mora, Missouri, and graduated from the University of Missouri, majoring in agricultural journalism, as well as being a member of FarmHouse Fraternity. He was catapulted into country music fame in 1956 with his composition "The Auctioneer", which sold over 2.5 million records. He wrote the song about the life of his cousin, National Auctioneers Association Hall of Famer Ray Sims, also a Missourian. Van Dyke had the lead role of a budding country music performer in the 1967 movie What Am I Bid? in which Sims played himself as an auctioneer.

In his 50 year-plus career, Van Dyke has recorded more than 500 songs, dozens of them making the charts. His record of "Walk On By" (1961) was named by Billboard magazine in 1994 as the biggest country single of all time, based on sales, plays, and weeks in the charts. It stayed at number one in the U.S. country chart for 19 weeks, and in all, charted for 42 weeks, reaching number five on the pop listings. It sold more than 1.5 million copies.

Other Van Dyke hits were "If a Woman Answers", "Black Cloud", "Big Man in a Big House", "Anne of a Thousand Days", "Happy to Be Unhappy", "Night People", "Be a Good Girl", "Dim Dark Corner", "Five Steps Away", "How Long Must You Keep Me a Secret", "Afraid of a Heartache", "Big Wide Wonderful World of Country Music", "Birmingham", "Just a State of Mind", "Mr. Professor", "My World Is Caving In", "The Other Boys Are Talking", "Poor Guy", "Roses from a Stranger", "Texas Tea", "Who’s Gonna Run the Truck Stop in Tuba City When I’m Gone", "Wrong Side of the Tracks", "Your Daughter Cried All Night", "Your Money", and "The Life You Offered Me".

In the UK Singles Chart Van Dyke had two hits: "Walk On By" reached number five in February 1962, and "Big Man in a Big House" made number 34 in May that year.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.