Rusty Draper, 80; a singer, star who shunned spotlight
But at home in little North Bend, where he and his wife lived for more than 30 years, Rusty Draper was just a quiet, modest resident who abhorred ostentatiousness and would just as soon shoot a round of golf and strum his guitar than sign autographs.
"I hate Los Angeles," Mr. Draper told an interviewer in 1980. "In Los Angeles, every guy thinks he's a star. ... It's a town of phonies."
Mr. Draper, best known for 1950s and 1960s country hits "Gambler's Guitar," "Shifting Whispering Sands" and "Night Life," died of pneumonia Friday (March 28) at Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue after a 20-year battle with heart disease, strokes and most recently throat cancer, which stole his famous voice. He was 80.
"He was much bigger than he ever thought he was," said Fay Draper of North Bend, his wife of 38 years and manager of 36. "He was a very humble man. You couldn't get him to talk about himself as a rule. But he was booked at least three or four years ahead of time."
Born Farrell Draper in Kirksville, Mo., on Jan. 25, 1923, Mr. Draper was already singing and strumming on the radio by age 12, his thick head of red hair lending him his stage name. As a teen he sang his way through Oklahoma, Iowa and Illinois before ending up in San Francisco.
There he landed gigs as master of ceremonies and singer at up-and-coming music clubs.
In the 1950s his career skyrocketed as his best-known songs approached the top of the pop charts. He had his own radio show in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and he made regular TV appearances. He performed on Ed Sullivan's show twice. He acted small parts in TV series like "Rawhide." People started calling him "Mr. Nightlife" for his version of a Willie Nelson tune that hit the charts in 1963.
Despite his country roots, Mr. Draper's records sold better off the pop shelves than the country-western racks. He played a lot of pop-influenced covers of country hits, and he even came out with a calypso album.
"He cultivated a kind of country-pop sound," said John Rumble, a senior historian with the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. "He did a lot of things that straddled both markets. He'd do a little bit of everything."
And he had a stage presence that couldn't be fully captured on vinyl: funny, friendly and unpretentious.
A reviewer in The Seattle Times in the early 1970s called Mr. Draper's act a "familiar (and agreeable) mixture of guitar picking, banjo picking, breezy humor and down-home songs."
He met Fay, his second wife and a Washington native, in 1964, and they married a year later. With their children from previous marriages grown, they toured constantly, to Asia and Europe and throughout the United States.
They bought their home in rural North Bend in the late 1960s, because it was close enough to the airport to travel and far enough from Hollywood to stay sane, Mrs. Draper said.
Even so, he briefly made the charts in 1980 with a country version of "Harbour Lights" by The Platters.
But about 20 years ago, Mr. Draper suffered severe heart trouble and a mild stroke that prompted a six-way heart-bypass surgery. It essentially ended his touring career, and he and his wife settled into their North Bend home. Mr. Draper still performed, but he had to stay local, his wife said.
"The most important thing about my career is taking the time to spend with my wife and family," he told the 1980 interviewer.
As his health declined over the next two decades, Mr. Draper was less and less able to perform. But he still managed a few small shows, and he loved playing at the Issaquah Elks for an intimate audience.
"He loved it just as much as playing the big places," Mrs. Draper said.
About two weeks before he went to the hospital for the last time, he played his last-ever show at the Elks, even though he could no longer sing.
"On the way home, he said, 'Did I play OK,' " his wife recalled.
"I said, 'Just wonderful. You played wonderfully.' "
"He said, 'I think I did. I enjoyed it.' "
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, John, of Sacramento, Calif.; daughter Judy, of Sultan; stepson Mark DeGraaf of Kirkland; 15 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
A private wake is set for 7 p.m. Friday at the Issaquah Elks club. A memorial service is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Mount Si Lutheran Church in North Bend.
Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com