People Also Known As "Kentucky Colonel"

Jimmy Skinner

(April 27, 1909 – October 27, 1979) was an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist. He also was known for a mail-order record business and retail store in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Skinner was born in Blue Lick, near Berea, Kentucky. In his teens, he moved with his family to Hamilton, Ohio where he began performing on local radio stations. He and his brother Esmer unsuccessfully auditioned for Gennett Records in 1931 and Bluebird Records in 1941. Ernest Tubb landed a hit with Skinner's composition "Let's Say Goodbye (Like We Said Hello)" in 1946. The following year Skinner saw his first record releases on Red Barn, a custom vanity label based in Chicago, Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri.

Bob Newman

Bob Newman should have been a millionaire : he was one of the best Country music composers of the Fifties, under his name or his aliases (Lee Roberts). His rich, vibrant voice could have given him a far more successful career than he had. He remains a minor Hillbilly Bop artist.

However, he didn’t begin as soloist, but in the shadow of his elder brothers, Hank (born Henry, 1905) and Slim (born Marion Alonzo, 1910) in a trio, The Georgia Crackers . They came from a town near Macon, Ga. where Bob saw the light of day on October 16, 1915. Hank & Slim formed a duo during the Thirties, in the manner of the then immensely popular Jimmie Rodgers, and toured extensively in the Midwest and the South. Vocalion label recorded them in 1934 in New York. Later on, they settled down in Columbus, OH, where they founded a club, the G-Bar-C.

Col. Harland David Sanders

Mostly known as "The Colonel", Colonel Harland David Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980) was an American businessman, best known for founding fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (also known as KFC) and later acting as the company's brand ambassador and symbol. His name and image are still symbols of the company.

Colonel Sanders was originally commissioned in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. After being recommissioned as a Kentucky colonel in 1950 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby, Sanders began to dress the part, growing a goatee and wearing a black frock coat (later switching to a white suit), a string tie, and referring to himself as "Colonel".

To date Colonel Harland Sanders remains the most famous of all Kentucky colonels, to have changed the idea from the original idea with his grace and style.