Biography
Eddie Dean, born Edgar Dean Glosup, built careers both as a singer, songwriter and musician and as a B-movie cowboy in Hollywood westerns from the late 1930s into the late 1940s while pursuing a modest country music path. Born in Posey, Texas, to a farmer and a singing school teacher who trained her son in harmonizing, he relocated to Chicago in 1926 hoping to break into radio yet secured only scattered guest spots. He adopted the shortened name Eddie Dean and landed a position the following year in Shenandoah, Iowa.
In 1929 he began performing duets with his older brother Jimmy, who was unrelated to the sausage magnate of the same name. By the end of 1933 the pair had secured slots on a Chicago early-morning program and on the prestigious National Barn Dance. Through 1935 they cut duets for the ARC label under Art Satherley and additional gospel material for Decca. After the brothers parted ways, Jimmy joined another station and appeared on the network daytime series Modern Cinderella. Eddie headed to Hollywood in 1936, where he filled minor Western roles, became a regular on Judy Canova’s network radio show, and issued eight singles between 1941 and 1942, among them “On the Banks of the Sunny San Juan.”
His breakthrough as an actor arrived in 1944 with the starring role in the musical Western The Harmony Trail. He subsequently headlined nineteen additional Westerns and ranked among the top ten cowboy stars of the 1940s at the height of his screen career. After leaving films in 1948, Dean leveraged his movie recognition to advance his singing work. Although blessed with a strong, clear voice, he never achieved major stardom, though he scored occasional hits and penned notable songs, including the composition “One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart),” written with his wife and later recorded by Jimmy Wakely in 1961 and by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1969. His most enduring songwriting achievement remains the 1955 country classic “I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven.”
Dean kept releasing material on smaller labels through the 1970s. During the 1980s he continued performing and recounting stories at Western film fairs, and in 1993 he received induction into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
In 1929 he began performing duets with his older brother Jimmy, who was unrelated to the sausage magnate of the same name. By the end of 1933 the pair had secured slots on a Chicago early-morning program and on the prestigious National Barn Dance. Through 1935 they cut duets for the ARC label under Art Satherley and additional gospel material for Decca. After the brothers parted ways, Jimmy joined another station and appeared on the network daytime series Modern Cinderella. Eddie headed to Hollywood in 1936, where he filled minor Western roles, became a regular on Judy Canova’s network radio show, and issued eight singles between 1941 and 1942, among them “On the Banks of the Sunny San Juan.”
His breakthrough as an actor arrived in 1944 with the starring role in the musical Western The Harmony Trail. He subsequently headlined nineteen additional Westerns and ranked among the top ten cowboy stars of the 1940s at the height of his screen career. After leaving films in 1948, Dean leveraged his movie recognition to advance his singing work. Although blessed with a strong, clear voice, he never achieved major stardom, though he scored occasional hits and penned notable songs, including the composition “One Has My Name (The Other Has My Heart),” written with his wife and later recorded by Jimmy Wakely in 1961 and by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1969. His most enduring songwriting achievement remains the 1955 country classic “I Dreamed of a Hill-Billy Heaven.”
Dean kept releasing material on smaller labels through the 1970s. During the 1980s he continued performing and recounting stories at Western film fairs, and in 1993 he received induction into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Albums
