Shirley Bates

Born in Kansas City, Missouri. Raised in a musical family. Her career took west to Southern California where country music was enjoying a lot of popularity and she hoped to become a part of that. She took to taking advantage of any opportunity she could find to showcase her vocal talents. Auditioned for Forman Phillips who had the popular "Forman Phillips County Barn Dance" radio show at the time. She was a part of the show and became known as "The Sweetheart of the County Barn Dance." The Forman Phillips County Barn Dance moved from just being a radio show to being a live television broadcast. During that time, Shirley met and performed with many of the major stars of that era including Ray Price and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys.