Fred Stobaugh (August 22, 1917 – November 23, 2016) was a retired truck driver from

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

who became a viral sensation as a songwriter. A documentary video about the making of the song ''Oh Sweet Lorraine,'' based on a text that Stobaugh wrote for his wife of 72 years, became a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

in September 2013. The song based on his text subsequently entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as well as other international charts.

Life and work

Stobaugh first met his future wife Lorraine Dinquel in 1938.Danielle Hatch: Peorian's song to late wife goes viral
Peoria Journal Star, August 27, 2013 The couple married in 1940 and later had three daughters. His wife died on April 26, 2013, only two months before the couple's 73rd wedding anniversary. A few months later he wrote the song ''Oh Sweet Lorraine'' and entered a singer-songwriter competition hosted by Green Shoe Studio. The video of their recording sessions attracted more than seven million hits on

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and

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. In September 2013 the song entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 42, making him the oldest artist to appear on the Hot 100.
Fred Stobaugh, 96, Becomes Oldest Artist To Appear On Hot 100
' It also entered the

Swiss Hitparade The Swiss Hitparade (german: link=no, Schweizer Hitparade) is Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland. The Swiss charts include: * Singles Top ...

and the

Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Tuesdays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as ...

. On August 22, 2014, his 97th birthday, Stobaugh released a second song, ''Took Her Home''. The next week, Green Shoe Studio posted several follow-up documentary videos on Fred's story and the public's response. He died in November 2016 at the age of 99.

Discography

References

External links

A Letter From Fred
at greenshoestudio.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Stobaugh, Fred 1917 births 2016 deaths People from Peoria, Illinois Songwriters from Illinois