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Gene Autry

AUTRY, GENE (1907–1998). Gene Autry, the movie star known as the "Singing Cowboy," was born Orvon Gene Autry in Tioga, Texas, on September 29, 1907. He was the first child of cattle rancher Delbert Autry. A few years after his birth, the family moved to Ravia, Oklahoma. At age five Gene began singing in the church choir where his grandfather was a minister. At age twelve he received his first guitar lessons from his mother on a guitar ordered through the Sears and Roebuck catalog...

Click here for full text of article on the Handbook of Texas Online, courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.