AccuRadio Song Of The Day-SSGT. Barry Sadler

Artist:SSGT. Barry Sadler
Song:The Ballad Of The Green Berets
Album:Top Hits Of The Sixties: Coolest Hits





At the height of the folk music boom and the protest song movement, The Ballad Of The Green Berets rode a wave of patriotism to become the biggest hit of 1966. And the most interesting thing was that Barry Sadler was a real Green Beret who became a recording star by accident. Of course it didn't last long. He was born Nov. 1, 1940 in Calsbad, NM. His father died when he was young and his family moved around as his mom found work. He learned to play guitar and also became an avid shooter. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1958 and was stationed in Japan as a radar specialist. After returning home, he couldn't find work. So he re-enlisted this time in the US Army and became a paratrooper and then a Special Forces Green Beret. In 1965, he was injured while in Vietnam and while recuperating, he sang and played guitar for the other wounded soldiers. A news crew filmed Sadler singing The Ballad Of The Green Berets. The song became a sensation when it played on the news and RCA Records got Sadler to record it and asked novelist Robin Moore to help him. Moore wrote the novel The Green Berets which became the 1968 film The Green Berets starring John Wayne. The Ballad Of The Green Berets topped the Billboard Hot 100, the Adult Contemporary chart and reached #2 on the Country Singles chart. It was the biggest hit of 1966. The A Team was Sadler's only other top 30 hit and he only recorded two albums. You can get The Ballad Of The Green Berets on this Collectables various artists comp. Barry Sadler wrote the successful Casca series of novels in the 70s. In 1979, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Lee Emerson Bellamy. They were fighting over Sadler's current girlfriend at the time. He moved to Guatemala in 1983 where he was running guns and training soldiers. He was shot in the head during a 1988 robbery attempt and died on Nov. 5, 1989 at age 49. Here's SSGT. Barry Sadler performing The Ballad Of The Green Berets on The Ed Sullivan Show Jan. 30, 1966.