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from: Yodel-Toe
22 Sep 2006
11:50:42
69.15.240.85
Famed Austin singer Don Walser dead at 72 AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- After his unprecedented rise in the Austin music scene over a decade ago, the man known as the "Pavarotti of the Plains," Don Walser is dead at the age of 72. The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman said that Walser died Wednesday at his Texas home from mounting health problems, which had previously led to the end of his musical career that included rising from obscurity in 1990 and signing with Sire Records at the age of 64. Walser had begun singing at the age of 16 but decided to join the National Guard instead as the United States began to embrace rock 'n' roll music, a decision that delayed his musical career by more than three decades, the American-Statesman said. While he did eventually embrace his singing talent and signed with the same label that carried Madonna and The Ramones, Walser said in a 2003 interview that he performed for a love of the music. "It didn't matter where we played," he told the newspaper. "Whether I was just sitting on a bunk in the barracks playing for the fellas or at Lincoln Center -- as long as people were enjoying the music, we had a ball." The paper said that Walser is survived by his four children and his wife, Pat.
