Bonnie Lou, 91, Country Singing Star

BY DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

Bonnie Lou, a singer who
ved national stardom in the
by recording hit country
rockabilly records and per-
ing on television radio,
whose career declined after
turned down a major-label
died on Tuesday in Chevito,
She was 91.

She was in hospice care
ad dementia, said her hus-
milton Okum, who con-
panyed her.
Bonnie Lou, a talented banjo
utar player who sang and
ed from beneath a dense
coil, began working on
ry radio as a teenager. (A
daugh
her voice in the fields. "I
give out after the cows and

Bonnie Lou in an undated
photo. She had hits in the '50s.

Big first on country
radio, then a regula-
on television.

She started winning local
ent contests at 15 and a year
was singing on the radio
Bloomington, Ind. When she
18 she began singing under
name Sally Carson with a gr-
called the Rhythm Rangers
KMBC in Kansas City be-
moving to WLB.

The name Bonnie Lou was
vented in 1957, when she
began working in
ager, though the singer gave
rational reasons. She told some

released two years later, in

the country music world.