{"id":280766,"date":"2026-09-07T10:16:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/280766\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:16:40","slug":"born-111-years-ago-today-in-pennsylvania-the-singing-cowboy-who-wrote-the-western-anthem-popularized-by-bing-crosby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/280766\/","title":{"rendered":"Born 111 Years Ago Today in Pennsylvania, the Singing Cowboy Who Wrote the Western Anthem Popularized by Bing Crosby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Famous \u201csinging cowboy\u201d Richard Thomas Goldhahn was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this day (September 4) in 1915. Under the stage name Dick Thomas, he reached the top of the U.S. country chart in 1945 with the self-penned \u201cSioux City Sue\u201d. The following year, Gene Autry<\/a> would cover the song for his film of the same name. Sioux City Sue marked his first onscreen appearance after serving in the military during World War II. <\/p>\n

Today, we\u2019re taking a look at the life and career of singing cowboy Dick Thomas.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

Who Was Dick Thomas?<\/p>\n

Growing up on a pig farm near Philadelphia, Dick Thomas developed an early interest in music, learning to play the harmonica, violin, guitar and piano all by high school.<\/p>\n

He began his career in 1934 as a yodeling cabin boy on a radio show called SS All In Fun.<\/p>\n

Going to California<\/p>\n

In the early 1940s, Dick Thomas followed his musical dreams out West, packing up wife Mickey and son \u201cDickey\u201d and heading to California.<\/p>\n

He supported his family with singing and master of ceremony gigs on the Hollywood club scene, along with a few roles in Western films. Later, he would land his own radio program on a Hollywood station.<\/p>\n

However, Thomas had to put his career on hold to serve in the U.S. military during World War II. Before leaving, he recorded multiple songs in February 1945, including one he\u2019d written himself called \u201cSioux City Sue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Upon his discharge six months later, Thomas was shocked to learn that \u201cSioux City Sue\u201d was among Billboard\u2019s most-played songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. I said it must be a mistake\u2026 And it kept moving up, kept moving up until I was \u2014 I was number one right by November,\u201d Thomas recalled in a March 1999 interview<\/a> with his grandson. \u201cAnd my records were in the top five from September of \u201945 until July of 1946.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSioux City Sue\u201d spent 23 weeks on the country charts, with a four-week stay at number one.<\/p>\n

The same year, Bing Crosby recorded his own version, which topped the charts in Australia and reached number three on Billboard\u2019s Best-selling Record charts.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Born on This Day in 1911, One of the First \u201cSinging Cowboys\u201d Who Shaped Ernest Tubb\u2019s Career]<\/a><\/p>\n

Dick Thomas\u2019 other charting hits include \u201cHonestly\u201d (number four, 1945); \u201cThe Beaut from Butte\u201d (number 13, 1948); and \u201cThe Sister of Sioux City Sue\u201d (number 12, 1949).<\/p>\n

He died on November 22, 2003, at age 88.<\/p>\n

(Photo by American Stock\/Archive Photos\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Famous \u201csinging cowboy\u201d Richard Thomas Goldhahn was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this day (September 4) in 1915.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[117389,6891,117390,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-280766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-1910s","tag-country-music","tag-dick-thomas","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}