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Cliffie Stone brought country music to Vine Street! He has been the most important influence on country music that the West Coast has ever had, which is now an integral part of country music’s history with worldwide effects.
With great success, this charismatic jack-of-all-trades wore all the musical hats: bassist; radio disc jockey; radio, television and record producer; master of ceremonies; comedian; singer; songwriter; publisher; artist’s manager; booking agent; author; Board of Directors’ trustee for the Musicians Union Local 47; and executive positions at notable publishing and recording companies.
In Hollywood, he was one of the Academy of Country Music’s founding fathers and has served on its Board of Directors as president, vice president and historian. In Nashville, he was one of the original members of the Country Music Association and has served as its vice president.
Cliffie Stone was born Clifford Gilpen Snyder on March 1, 1917, to Nina Belle and Clifford H. Snyder (AKA Herman, "the Hermit") in Stockton, California. He was raised in Burbank and his main interests in high school were football, acting and music - the bass!
In 1939, he married his late first wife, Dorothy, and they had wonderful four children - Stephen, Linda, Curtis and Jonathan.
Cliffie’s versatile sixty-four year career began at age sixteen when he became Stuart Hamblen’s permanent bass player on his "Lucky Stars" radio show. Eventually, he had his own radio shows, and at one time or another, he was on twenty-eight radio stations in California, which catapulted him into Nashville’s Country Music Disc Jockey’s Hall of Fame in 1979.
One of his radio programs was the "Hometown Jamboree" show, which became one of the most popular, long-running variety shows on radio and television (1946 to 1960). It literally was a launching pad for a multitude of singers, musicians and songwriters, that reads like a Who’s Who in the music world. Over the years, many were regulars; others were featured guests, which include: Tennessee Ernie Ford, Merle Travis, Molly Bee, Billy Liebert, Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West, Herman, "the Hermit," Gene O’Quinn, Billy Strange, Joanie O’Brien, Dallas Frazier, Tommy Sands, Billy Armstrong, Ferlin Husky, Lefty Frizzell, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Barbara Mandrell, Johnny Horton, Tex Ritter, Johnny Bond, Tex Williams, Eddie Dean, Wesley and Marilyn Tuttle, Polly Bergen, Freddie Hart, Liberace, and even Elvis made an appearance.
He was a master at juggling three or four musical hats. In the mid-1940’s one of his most fulfilling achievements occurred when he was signed by Capitol Records not only as a recording artist, but as head of their country/western department wherein he was instrumental in building their roster with history-making artists.
In the ensuing years, he became a legendary force in all areas of the entertainment industry and developed a lasting reputation for being one of its most respected and beloved music men.
His ever-young and impassioned love for life was unceasing and in 1989, he married his second wife, songwriter, Joan Carol. During the last nine years of his life, he continued to keep the music in his soul flowing. He performed on his "Hometown Jamboree-Today" concerts; was director/consultant of Gene Autry’s vast music publishing empire; was interviewed by hundreds of radio stations worldwide including the Larry King Show; appeared on CBS and NBC television music award shows as well as top-rated cable shows on TNN (The Nashville Network); served on the Academy of Country Music’s Board of Directors’ as Historian; produced seven albums and wrote over forty songs.
He proudly authored two books: "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Songwriting But Didn’t Know Who to Ask" published 1992 and "You Gotta Be Bad Before You Can Be Good" published January 2000) which is now available. Both books are lasting musical legacies that are geared toward perennial, aspiring artists, which embodies his life-long humanitarian passion of encouraging and helping new talent to be all that they can be.