Ottis Dewey "Slim" Whitman Jr. (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013) was an American country music singer and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto.

[3] Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr.[4] was born in the Oak Park neighborhood of Tampa, Florida on January 20, 1923.

Whitman's first big break came when talent manager "Colonel" Tom Parker heard him singing on the radio and offered to represent him.

That changed in the early 1950s after he recorded a version of the Bob Nolan hit "Love Song of the Waterfall", which made it into the country music top 10.

[9] A yodeller, Whitman avoided country music's "down on yer luck, buried in booze" songs, preferring instead to sing laid-back romantic melodies about simple life and love.

[10] Although he recorded many country and western tunes, including hits "Tumbling Tumbleweeds", "Singing Hills", and "The Cattle Call", love and romance songs like "Serenade", "Something Beautiful (to Remember)", and "Keep It a Secret" figured prominently in his repertoire.

[14] In 1979, Whitman produced a TV commercial to support Suffolk Marketing's release of a greatest hits compilation titled All My Best.

[16] The TV albums briefly made Whitman a household name in the United States for the first time in his career, resulting in everything from a first-time appearance on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson to Whitman being parodied in a comic skit on Second City Television (SCTV); he was played by Joe Flaherty, as supposedly starring in the Che Guevara-like male lead in a Broadway musical on the life of Indira Gandhi.

In 1988[18] or 1990, EMI Australia released his joint album with his son Byron Whitman, titled Magic Moments.

The album featured western standards such as Gene Autry's hit "Back in the Saddle Again" and the television theme song for The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Show.

Twilight on the Trail was produced by his son Byron Whitman and featured many well-known session musicians, including long-time band member Harold Bradley.

[25][23][26][27][better source needed] From 1957 until his death, Whitman lived with his family at his estate, Woodpecker Paradise, in Middleburg, Florida.

Songman: The Slim Whitman Story”, was written by Kenneth L. Gibble and published in 1982 by Brethren Press.

[30] On January 20, 2008, on what was, coincidentally, Whitman's 85th birthday, a premature obituary was published by the Nashville Tennessean newspaper.

For his contribution to the recording industry, Slim Whitman was celebrated by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.

"[36] When a young Paul McCartney purchased his first guitar, the left-handed musician was unsure how to play an instrument that was manufactured and strung for a right-handed player.

[37][38] American pop singer Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists.

[12][40] In 2003, Rob Zombie used Whitman's version of "I Remember You" in his directorial debut in the film House of 1000 Corpses.