Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early "crooners".

On a dare from his friends, Austin took the stage and sang for the first time since singing as a Southern Baptist choir boy.

[1] His familiarity with horses from helping his stepfather in his blacksmithing business prompted the Army to assign Austin to the cavalry and send him to Mexico with Major General John J. Pershing's Pancho Villa Expedition, for which he was awarded the Mexican Service Medal.

[2] On returning to the United States in 1919, Austin settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he briefly studied dentistry and law.

[2] Some of his best sellers include "The Lonesome Road", "My Blue Heaven", "Riding Around in the Rain", "Tonight You Belong to Me", and "Ramona".

[1] In 1925, Austin recorded his popular song "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" for the Victor Talking Machine Company in a duet with Aileen Stanley.

[2] His compositions included "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street", recorded by Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, The Ink Spots, Hot Lips Page, Johnny Mathis, The Four Freshmen, Red Nichols' Five Pennies, Ella Fitzgerald, Sy Oliver, and the Wolverines Orchestra; "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?

", recorded by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra, Gene Rodemich, Marion Harris, George Wettling, and Erroll Garner; "The Lonesome Road", written with Nat Shilkret, recorded by Bing Crosby, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Mildred Bailey, Les Paul, Judy Garland, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Sammy Davis Jr., Dick Dale, The Fendermen, Frank Sinatra, Chet Atkins, Bobby Darin, Duane Eddy, Paul Robeson, Jerry Vale, Muggsy Spanier, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, Frankie Laine and Ted Lewis; "Riding Around in the Rain", written with Carmen Lombardo and "The Voice of the Southland".

[9] Colonel Tom Parker, who later became Elvis Presley's manager, gradually worked his way into the music business when he began to promote Gene Austin in 1938.

He stopped in Minden, Louisiana, and performed there in a popular tent show on the grounds of the local Coca-Cola plant owned by the Hunter family.

[11] Offered to work in Hollywood at the height of his career as the "Voice of the Southland", Austin appeared in several films, including Belle of the Nineties, Klondike Annie, Sadie McKee[12] – all 1934 releases, Songs and Saddles (1938), and My Little Chickadee (1940) at the request of his friend Mae West.

[1] With the advent of electrical recording, Austin, along with Rudy Vallee, Art Gillham, Nick Lucas, Johnny Marvin and Cliff Edwards, adopted an intimate, radio-friendly, close-miked style that took over from the full-voiced, stage-friendly style of tenor vocals popularized by such singers as Henry Burr and Billy Murray.

[1] Such later crooners as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Russ Columbo all credited Austin with creating the musical genre that began their careers.

[3][2] He died in Palm Springs of lung cancer and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.