Shelby F. “Sheb” Wooley was a musician and character actor who appeared in many Western movies - but is most famous for having written and recorded the most annoying rock and roll earworm ever, “Purple People Eater,” which in 1958 spent six weeks at Number One. The song has sold over 100 million copies and ultimately became one of the biggest hit singles in the history of MGM Records.
Sheb Wooley appeared in dozens of western films from the 1950s through 1980s, most notably High Noon. He also appeared in The Outlaw Josey Wales, Silverado and Giant. He also co-starred as Pete Nolan in the TV Western Rawhide. Wooley continued occasional television and film appearances through the 1990s.
In the late 1950s, he started a recording career, and among many other songs, he released “Purple People Eater,” a sendup of various pop culture fads including rock and roll, ufo’s, and monster movies. Originally, neither MGM Records or Sheb really liked the song. Based on a joke that was circulating at the time (”what has one eye, one horn, is purple and flies?”) the lyrics tell of an alien monster (described as a “one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater”) who comes to earth because it wants to play in a rock and roll band. Once the song became a huge hit, a “Purple People Eater” merchandising wave swept the country - people just couldn’t get enough. In a shameless attempt to cash in on two hit songs at the same time “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor,” sung by Joe South, was also released in 1958, and was later covered by The Big Bopper. “Purple People Eater” was also used as the basis for a completely awful feature film in 1988, with a cast that included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ned Beatty, Shelley Winters, Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Wooley himself.
Here is a video of Sheb Wooley performing the hit song:
Sheb Wooley also wrote several songs that were hits for other singers, including “Are You Satisfied,” recorded by Rusty Draper, which made it to number 11 on the country charts in 1955. Wooley also wrote the theme song for the long-running television show “Hee Haw.”
In the 1960s, Sheb also developed a drunken character named Ben Colder. The character was so successful that for a period of time he had more appearances booked as Ben Colder than as himself. In 1968 his Ben Colder persona was voted Comedian of the Year. Here is a video of Sheb Wooley performing as the Ben Colder character on “Hee Haw“:
Wooley was married to Melba Miller, the older sister of country music star Roger Miller.
In 1996 Sheb Wooley was diagnosed with leukemia, and eventually died in 2003 at the age of 82.
Shortly after he released Purple People Eater” Sheb Wooley tried to further cash in on the success of his hit by releasing a string of lesser-known novelty songs, including “The Purple People Eater Plays Earth Music,” “Purple People Eater #2,” and even a song called “Skin Tight, Pin Stripped, Purple Pedal Pushers.” In 1958 he released a Christmas song called “Santa and The Purple People Eater,” about Santa’s encounter with Sputnik and an alien, however no song of his ever really captured the attention of the record buying public in the same way as the original.
LISTEN TO MP3:
DOWNLOAD:
Sheb_Wooley_-_Santa_And_The_Purple_People_Eater.mp3
Loading ...
I’ve always had a hard time hearing the lyrics in this one. It’s as if they threw it together and hoped it would sell just because it was a “Christmas” song with the purple people eater in it.
By the way, after Sheb’s death, his wife confirmed that his voice is the one heard frequently as the Wilhelm Scream. His name was on the short list, and even Ben Burtt wasn’t sure who exactly did the original scream.