Ottis Dewey "Slim" Whitman (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), was an American country music and western music singer-songwriter and instrumentalist known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth, high, three-octave-range falsetto in a style christened as "countrypolitan". He stated that he had sold in excess of 120 million records. In the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley as the opening act. In the 1990s a new generation was exposed to Whitman through his songs featured in the film Mars Attacks!; his iconic "Indian Love Call" would kill the invading Martians every time the record was played.
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Biography

Whitman was born in Oak Park, Tampa, Florida, on January 20, 1923, one of six siblings, to Otis and Lucy Whitman. Growing up, he liked the country music of Jimmie Rodgers and the songs of Gene Autry, but he did not embark on a musical career of his own until the end of World War II, after he had served in the South Pacific with the United States Navy. Whilst aboard ship he would sing and entertain members aboard. This resulted in the captain blocking his transfer to another ship—hence saving his life, as the other ship later sank with no surviving hands. Whitman's early ambitions were to become either a boxer or a professional baseball player.

Whitman was a self-taught left-handed guitarist, though he was right-handed. He had lost almost all of the second finger on his left hand in an accident while working at a meat packing plant. He worked odd jobs at a Tampa shipyard while developing a musical career, eventually performing with bands known as the Variety Rhythm Boys and the Light Crust Doughboys. He was briefly nicknamed The Smiling Starduster after a stint with a group called The Stardusters. Whitman's first big break came when talent manager "Colonel" Thomas Parker heard him singing on the radio and offered to represent him. After signing with RCA Records, he was billed as "the cowboy singer Slim Whitman", after Canadian singer Wilf Carter, who was known in the United States as Montana Slim. Whitman released his first single in 1948, "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards The Sky", complete with yodel. He toured and sang in a variety of venues, including the radio show Louisiana Hayride.