   david gordon kirkpatrick, known professionally as slim dusty ao, mbe (13 june 1927 â 19 september 2003) was an australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly seven decades. he was known to record songs in the legacy of australian poets henry lawson and banjo paterson that represented the australian bush lifestyle, and also for his many trucking songs. dusty was the first australian to have a no. 1 hit song with gordon parsons ("a pub with no beer").national film and sound archive: pub with no beer on australianscreen online he received an unequalled 37 golden guitar and two aria awards and was inducted into the aria hall of fame and the country music roll of renown. at the time of his death at the age of 76, dusty had been working on his 106th album for emi records. in 2007, his domestic record sales in australia surpassed seven million. ==early life and career== david gordon kirkpatrick was born on 13 june 1927 in nulla nulla creek near kempsey, new south wales, the son of a cattle farmer. kirkpatrick adopted the stage name "slim dusty" in 1938 at eleven years of age."senior australian of the year", 1999 award by the australian government. retrieved 10 march 2008. his earliest musical influences included jimmie rodgers. in 1945, dusty wrote when the rain tumbles down in july and released his first record that year at the age of eighteen. in 1946, he signed his first recording contract with columbia graphophone for the regal zonophone label."slim dusty: the boy who lived his dream", the age (australia), 21 september 2003 ==rise to fame and enduring popularity== [[file:cunnamulla fella.jpg|thumb|statue of "the cunnamulla fella" erected as a tribute to song writer, [[stan coster
1927_births 2003_deaths ARIA_Award_winners ARIA_Hall_of_Fame_inductees Australian_country_guitarists Australian_country_singer-songwriters Australian_country_singers Australian_guitarists Australian_male_singers Australian_people_of_Irish_descent Cancer_deaths_in_New_South_Wales Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire Officers_of_the_Order_of_Australia People_from_the_Mid_North_Coast Senior_Australian_of_the_Year_Award_winners