Al Downing, later known as Big Al Downing, was an entertainer, singer, songwriter, and pianist. He received the Billboard's New Artist of the Year and the Single of the Year Award in 1979. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and was a frequent performer at the Grand Ole Opry. Downing was nominated as Best New Artist by the Academy of Country Music and appeared on Hee Haw, Nashville Now, and Dick Clark's American Bandstand. In 2000, he was nominated as a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Downing appeared at Ontario's prestigious Havelock Country Jamboree with Kenny Rogers and Roy Clack and continued to perform more than 75 shows per year including plans for a European tour that was set to begin on July 1, 2005 but he was hospitalized just prior to the beginning of that tour and diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and died on July 4, 2005. It was a bad loss for the music industry and his fans will surely miss him.
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