Ask American Profile

Jimmy Wayne, Pete Kirby, Bill Cosby

What can you tell me about country singer Jimmy Wayne?
—Rebecca P., New Mexico

Although the bachelor was recently included in People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue, his childhood was anything but pretty. Wayne, 31, weathered emotional abuse and violence while growing up in Kings Mountain, N.C., (pop. 9,693) and surrounding areas. “Every story I’ve got is a country song,” he says of his life. As young children, he and sister Patricia were shuttled from their mother to relatives and foster homes. By age 12, his mother was in prison and that’s when he began writing poems as an outlet for his emotions. At 13, he started writing rap songs, and at 17, he joined a rock band. “Around age 20, I realized I relate to country music the most—those people, those lyrics, that whole scene.” After earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice, he worked as a guard at the Gaston Correctional Facility for four years. He realized he could no longer deny his dream of pursuing country music, so he quit his job and moved to Nashville, Tenn. He spent three years honing his skills as a songwriter before signing a record deal with DreamWorks. Last year, he released his first CD, Jimmy Wayne, and scored his first hit with Stay Gone. “My responsibility in the past, when I was sleeping outside every night, was just to survive,” he says. “My responsibility now is to stay real, stay grounded and just tell the truth.”

I am sending in a request about one of our favorites from the Grand Ole Opry, Pete Kirby, known as Bashful Brother Oswald. He was unbeatable playing dobro.
—Del D., Wisconsin

Bashful Brother Oswald, a beloved member of the Opry, died in 2002 at the age of 91. A native of Sevierville, Tenn. (pop. 11,757), he grew up in a music-loving family and learned to play banjo and guitar early in life. In 1929, he headed to Michigan for a job with Buick, only to see it disappear when the Great Depression hit. He started playing the banjo for a radio station there, and met a dobro player who played Hawaiian music. Kirby was fascinated by the instrument, and soon added it to his repertoire. He eventually returned to Tennessee, where Roy Acuff hired him to play dobro in his band. When he paired Kirby with banjo player Rachel Veach to do a bit of comedy for the show, Acuff realized that a single woman might not be acceptable to his audience, so he introduced the duo as a family act, “Rachel and her big bashful brother Oswald.” He continued to appear on the Opry, even after Roy Acuff died, and finally became a member in 1995.

Bill Cosby often wore a round lapel pin, which seemed to have an SP design on it, on The Cosby Show. What did this pin represent?
—Don O., Alabama

The entertainer actually wore the white, round ceramic button with the letters SDJR (for Sammy Davis Jr.) for about one season, while Davis was battling cancer. Cosby wanted to pay tribute to him and let him know that he was in his thoughts and prayers. Sadly, Davis died in May 1990. Cosby, 66, whose sitcom enjoyed top ratings and critical acclaim from 1984 to 1992, has a new television venture. The comedian is the executive producer of Nick At Nite’s first animated series, based on his own best-selling book, Fatherhood. It stars Blair Underwood as the voice of Dr. Bindlebeep, a high school teacher, loving husband and father of three. The half-hour series is scheduled to premiere this month.

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