Lulu Belle

Lulu Belle and husband Scotty were a popular duo during the 1930s credited with helping make country music more popular and accessible to mainstream audiences. Scotty Wiseman also penned songs such as "Remember Me" and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" which went on to become country standards. In addition to headlining WLS Chicago's National Barn Dance for close to two decades, the duo appeared in seven motion pictures, including Shine on Harvest Moon. Lulu was born Myrtle Eleanor Cooper in Boone, North Carolina, and got her start on the National Barn Dance when she was 19. There she worked as a cornball comedian à la Minnie Pearl with Red Foley. Later the station teamed her up with Skyland Scotty Wiseman, another North Carolina native, when Foley's wife began getting jealous of Lulu. It was a good move, as she and Scotty clicked both professionally and personally, and they married in 1934. Though Lulu Belle and Scotty did record periodically, they were never as popular on wax as they were on the air. The couple left the Barn Dance in 1958, at which point Scotty returned to college and obtained a Master's degree. He then became a teacher, a farmer, and a bank director. Lulu Belle was active in community activities and eventually went on to serve two terms in the legislature of North Carolina as the Democratic representative for three counties. They also occasionally recorded during these years, and made three albums for Starday during the '60s and one in 1974 for Old Homestead. Scotty died in 1981 and two years later Lulu Belle remarried an old family friend. In 1986, she recorded a solo album for Homestead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide