Years active 1950–? Origin Australia (1950) Associated acts Faron Young Members Ted Legarde, Tom Legarde | Name The Twins Genres Country, Folk music Role Musical Group | |
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Also known as Australia's Yodeling Stockmen Albums Identical Country Twins Record labels Regal Zonophone Records, Festival Records Similar Tex Morton, Reg Lindsay, Buddy Williams, Smoky Dawson, Jack Clement | ||
The LeGarde Twins - Winter Wonderland (1960)
The LeGarde Twins are a pair of identical twins, Tom and Ted (b. 15 March 1931, in Mackay, Queensland), from Australia who play country music.
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Career
The twins left home at the age of 15 and after trying their luck on the rodeo circuit as cowboys, they began playing music (they both sing and play guitar) and performed throughout Australia (with the nickname "Australia's Yodeling Stockmen"). They were signed to the Rodeo label from 1950 to 1952, after which they released a string of hits in the 1950s on Regal Zonophone Records. In 1957, they left for North America, initially for Canada (they had acknowledged Canadian country singer Wilf Carter, or "Montana Slim", as an influence); they were even rumored to get their own TV show on the Canadian channel CTV. Soon, however, they left for Hollywood, performed on Doye O'Dell's Western Varieties TV shows, and hosted a TV show on KTLA in Los Angeles, before settling down in Nashville. In the 1970s they were touring the United States, part of a revival of interest in the music of the old western movies. In 1972, they signed with American Heritage Records, and in 1980 with the Australian label Festival Records.
In later years, they opened up the LeGarde Twins Country Music Theatre in Twitty City, in Hendersonville, Tennessee; after the death of Conway Twitty, they moved the theatre to the Quality Inn Hall of Fame Hotel in Nashville. They were still active in the first decade of the 21st century, playing in the Nashville Palace in 2007, at the Williamsburg Film Festival in 2008, and at a festival in Franklin, North Carolina in 2008; in 2009 they played with Tommy Cash in Corydon, Indiana.
Movies, TV appearances
Both Ted and Tom were regulars on the 1963 TV show Network. They also both appeared on the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "I, Mudd" (1967). In 2009, Ted played the "Old Man Dalton" character in the movie D4, an action-thriller directed by Darrin Dickerson.