Leroy Frank Van Dyke was born October 4, 1929 in
Mora, Missouri. He lived in Spencer, Wisconsin, but graduated from the
University of Missouri majoring in agricultural journalism. He was
catapulted into country music fame in 1956 with his composition "The
Auctioneer", co-written with Buddy Black, which sold over 2.5
million records. He wrote the song about the life of his cousin,
National Auctioneers Association Hall of Famer Ray Sims. In his 50
years-plus career, Van Dyke has recorded more than 500 songs, dozens of
them making the charts. His record of "Walk On By" (1961) was
named by Billboard magazine in 1994 as the biggest country single of all
time, based on sales, plays and weeks in the charts. It stayed at number
one in the U.S. country chart for 19 weeks, and in all, charted for 42
weeks. Van Dyke continues a full performance schedule, traveling from
his office/home complex on his 1,000-acre ranch in west central Missouri
near Sedalia.
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
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