Burl Ives

Date of Birth
14 June 1909, Hunt City, Illinois, USA

Date of Death
14 April 1995, Anacortes, Washington, USA (mouth cancer)

Birth Name
Burle Icle Ivanhoe Ives

Height
6' 1" (1.85 m)

Mini Biography
Burl Ives was one of six children born to a Scottish-Irish farming family. He first sang in public for a soldiers' reunion when he was age 4. In high school, he learned the banjo and played fullback, intending to become a football coach when he enrolled at Eastern Illinois State Teacher's College in 1927. He dropped out in 1930 and wandered, hitching rides, doing odd jobs, street singing.



Spouse
Dorothy Koster Paul (16 April 1971 - 14 April 1995) (his death) 3 children
Helen Peck Ehrich (6 December 1945 - 17 February 1971) (divorced) 1 child