Biography
Rosalie Allen emerged among the earliest prominent women in country music, scoring multiple successes in the latter half of the 1940s by performing as a singing cowgirl and yodeler in the vein of Patsy Montana. She entered the world as Julie Marlene Bedra on June 27, 1924, and spent her childhood in a sizable, impoverished household in Pennsylvania. Drawing motivation from the singing cowboys of the 1930s, she mastered both singing and guitar playing on her own before launching a radio career in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Relocating to New York during the opening years of the 1940s, she performed alongside the Swing Billies and Zeke Manners, through whom she encountered her eventual duet partner Elton Britt.
Her debut success arrived in 1946 on RCA Victor, when a fresh take on Patsy Montana’s “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” climbed to number five; the single’s B-side, “Guitar Polka (Old Monterey),” soon overtook it to peak at number three on the country charts. By the close of the decade Allen had grown into a leading champion of country sounds within New York, where she presented a local television program, fronted the WOV broadcast Prairie Stars, and contributed regular columns to National Jamboree and Country Sound Roundup. She also opened the Rosalie Allen Hillbilly Music Center, recognized as the country’s first store devoted exclusively to country recordings.
Her last two chart entries paired her once more with Elton Britt, the yodeler celebrated in the mid-1940s for “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere.” The initial release, “Beyond the Sunset,” reached number seven in 1950 and was soon followed by the number-three single “Quicksilver.” The pair cut an album for Waldorf Records in the mid-1950s, later issued under the title Starring Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen on the Grand Award label; two collections of her solo work have also surfaced as German imports. In later years Allen moved first to Alabama and ultimately to California. Her radio contributions earned her induction into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1999. She died on September 24, 2003, following a short illness with congestive heart failure.
Her debut success arrived in 1946 on RCA Victor, when a fresh take on Patsy Montana’s “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” climbed to number five; the single’s B-side, “Guitar Polka (Old Monterey),” soon overtook it to peak at number three on the country charts. By the close of the decade Allen had grown into a leading champion of country sounds within New York, where she presented a local television program, fronted the WOV broadcast Prairie Stars, and contributed regular columns to National Jamboree and Country Sound Roundup. She also opened the Rosalie Allen Hillbilly Music Center, recognized as the country’s first store devoted exclusively to country recordings.
Her last two chart entries paired her once more with Elton Britt, the yodeler celebrated in the mid-1940s for “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere.” The initial release, “Beyond the Sunset,” reached number seven in 1950 and was soon followed by the number-three single “Quicksilver.” The pair cut an album for Waldorf Records in the mid-1950s, later issued under the title Starring Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen on the Grand Award label; two collections of her solo work have also surfaced as German imports. In later years Allen moved first to Alabama and ultimately to California. Her radio contributions earned her induction into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1999. She died on September 24, 2003, following a short illness with congestive heart failure.
Albums
