Gene Sullivan
Musician · 1914–1984 · Carbon Hill, Alabama
Best known for
Songwriter
Gene Sullivan was an Alabama-born country singer, guitarist, and songwriter best remembered as half of the 1940s duo Wiley & Gene, with whom he co-wrote the country standard “When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again.” A former professional boxer, he came to music late but built a career that ran through Shreveport radio, the Oklahoma City scene, and a successful solo run in the late 1950s.
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- Born November 16, 1914, in Carbon Hill, Alabama.
- Boxed professionally before turning to country music in 1932; taught himself guitar.
- Worked with the Tune Wranglers, then joined the Lone Star Cowboys on KWKH in Shreveport.
- Met Wiley Walker while both were sidemen with the Shelton Brothers; the pair formed Wiley & Gene in 1939.
- Co-wrote “When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again” with Walker; the duo cut it for Columbia in 1941, and Elvis Presley’s 1956 RCA version made it a pop hit.
- Scored a No. 2 country hit with the duo’s “Make Room in Your Heart for a Friend” in 1946.
- Hit the Top 10 as a solo act in 1957 with the novelty “Please Pass the Biscuits.”
- Retired to run a music store in Oklahoma City but reunited with Walker for occasional appearances into the early 1960s.
- Died October 24, 1984.
