Scott Wiseman
Musician · 1909–1981 · Spruce Pine, North Carolina
Best known for
Songwriter
Scott Wiseman was a North Carolina banjo-and-guitar player, singer, and songwriter who, with his wife Myrtle “Lulu Belle” Cooper, made up the WLS National Barn Dance duo Lulu Belle & Scotty — one of the most popular country acts of the 1930s and 40s. He wrote “Mountain Dew” and “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” both standards of the country and bluegrass repertoire.
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- Born Scott Greene Wiseman on November 8, 1909, in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.
- Became a regular on the WLS National Barn Dance in Chicago in 1933.
- Married Myrtle Eleanor Cooper — performing as “Lulu Belle” — on December 13, 1934; together they spent twenty-five years on radio and stage as “The Sweethearts of Country Music.”
- Wrote ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You’ after Lulu Belle visited him in the hospital and asked him the question; he wrote the song while recovering; the song has since been recorded by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, and countless country and bluegrass acts.
- Co-wrote (with Bascom Lamar Lunsford) the country standard “Mountain Dew.”
- Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.
- Retired with Lulu Belle from full-time show business in 1958; later earned a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University and taught.
- Died January 31, 1981.
