Ed McCurdy (January 11, 1919 - March 23, 2000) was a folk singer, songwriter, and television actor. His anti-war classic, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," inspired and gave hope to those in the peace movement.
Born to a farming family in Willow Hill, Pennsylvania, McCurdy left home at 18 to pursue a singing career. He first found success in 1938 as a singer and disc jockey at a gospel radio station in Oklahoma. By the early 1940s, McCurdy,...
more
Ed McCurdy (January 11, 1919 - March 23, 2000) was a folk singer, songwriter, and television actor. His anti-war classic, "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," inspired and gave hope to those in the peace movement.
Born to a farming family in Willow Hill, Pennsylvania, McCurdy left home at 18 to pursue a singing career. He first found success in 1938 as a singer and disc jockey at a gospel radio station in Oklahoma. By the early 1940s, McCurdy, tall and handsome and with a big baritone voice, had become a popular singer of romantic songs in nightclubs across North America, until the legendary vaudeville fan dancer Sally Rand caught his act, hired him to join her show, put him in a tuxedo and had him sing his romantic songs to her on stage while pushing her on her swing. He stayed in vaudeville for several years as a singer and straight man to comedian (Fat) Jack E. Leonard, before moving in 1948, with his Canadian dancer wife and family to Vancouver where he hosted his own radio...
less
