Born: 20 January 1923
Died: 19 June 2013 (aged 90)
Real name: Ottis Dewey Whitman
Whitman was born in Tampa in Florida. He would serve in the US Navy in the South Pacific during World War II and while doing so he would sing on the ship to entertain the troops. This saved his life as the captain of his ship enjoyed his singing so much that he blocked Slim’s transfer to another ship. The other ship was subsequently sunk with all hands being lost. After the war Whitman decided to pursue a career in music. He worked with a few bands in the Tampa area but his break came when Elvis Presley’s manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker heard him singing on the radio and got him signed to RCA Records. He released his first single, ‘I’m Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky’, in 1949 and had his first US Country singles hit later that year with ‘Birmingham Jail’ which got to 15. His first main chart hit came with ‘Indian Love Call’ which went to 9 in the US and 7 in the UK. He would go on to see a total of 8 UK hits, hitting the top spot with ‘Rose Marie’ in 1954. He would only see 2 Hot 100 hits in the US but did manage a total of 39 hits on the US Country Singles charts. He would tour South Africa in 1965 and would record his only SA chart hit listed below with SA’s very own Virginia Lee.
| Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| 04-Jun-1965 | Tennessee Yodel Polka | 8 | 7 |
| Total hits | 1 | ||
| Total weeks | 7 |
| Biggest climber awards | 0 |
| Star rater climbs | 1 |
| Biggest fallers | 1 |
| Weeks with oldest in the charts | 7 |
| Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 7 |
| Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
| Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 0 |
| Top 30 points ranking | =932 |
| Top 20 points ranking | =871 |
| Top 30 points | 127 |
| Top 20 points | 57 |
SA Singles Charts 