Spade Cooley
Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley (December 17, 1910 – November 23, 1969) was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, television personality and convicted murderer. In 1961 he was tried and convicted for the murder of his second wife, Ella Mae Evans.[1]
Spade Cooley
November 23, 1969 (aged 58)
King of Western Swing
Paroled - died before grant of parole enacted
Life in prison
Ella Mae Cooley (née Evans)
April 3, 1961
Big band leader, actor, television personality
Fiddle, vocals
- c. 1940–1961
- November 23, 1969 (half-show)
Early life[edit]
Donnell Clyde Cooley was born in Grand, Oklahoma.[2] Being part Cherokee, he was sent to the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon, in his youth. In 1930, during the Dust Bowl, Cooley's family moved to California. It was here that he took the nickname "Spade" after he played a poker game and won three straight flush hands, all in spades.[3]
Death[edit]
On August 5, 1968, the California State Adult Authority voted unanimously to parole Cooley on February 22, 1970.[2] He had served less than nine years of a life sentence and was in poor health from heart trouble.[30]
On November 23, 1969, he received a 72-hour furlough from the prison hospital unit at Vacaville to play a benefit concert for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Alameda County at the Oakland Auditorium (now known as the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) in Oakland. During the intermission, after a standing ovation, Cooley suffered a fatal heart attack backstage.[2] He is interred at Chapel of the Chimes cemetery in Hayward.[21]