Stu Phillips, Grand Ole Opry’s Oldest Member, Dies at 92

Stu Phillips was a singer, songwriter, DJ, show host, Canadian, and an Episcopal Church minister who spent the better part of his years contributing to the legacy of country music in one capacity or another. Most notably, he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry when he passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 92.

Though most closely associated with Calgary as he was coming up in country music, Stu Phillips was originally from St. Eustache near Montreal. He joined the renowned boys choir of the St. George’s Church in Montreal while growing up where he performed on a regular basis. In his early teens, Phillips moved with his father to Calgary. As a young man, Phillips worked for the Alberta Department of Mines and Minerals, and had a brief job working for the Edmonton newspaper.

After the paper laid him off, Stu Phillips looked across the street to see the glowing letters of local radio station “CFRN.” He started at the station reading wire service copy on-air, but they eventually allowed him to start playing records, and eventually he got the opportunity to play guitar and sing on-air. It was Stu’s big break into music.

Eventually, Stu Phillips would become the host of numerous radio variety shows, including Stu for Breakfast, Town and Country and Cowtown Jamboree. As TV became the rage, he hosted The Outrider and then the Red River Jamboree on CBC. Phillips became one of Canadian country’s most prominent personalities. He earned a #1 single in Canada for the song “Kathy Keep Playing” in 1965. This is when he decided to move to Nashville.

Stu soon was signed to RCA and worked with Chet Atkins as a producer, releasing Top 25 hits like “Juanita Jones” and “Vin Rose” in 1967. He released four albums for RCA, though none of them were very commercially successful. But shortly after arriving in town, Stu Phillips fell in with the Grand Ole Opry crowd who embraced him for his voice and his preservationist disposition. After making some 20 guest appearances, Phillips was inducted as a Grand Ole Opry member in 1967.

Along with his Opry performances, Stu Phillips became an ambassador for country music all around the world, touring in Asia, Africa, and even the Middle East where he helped seed the appeal for country music. This is also where he found much of his popularity compared to the United States, earning Gold records in numerous countries.

Then after having spent the majority of his life based in Nashville as opposed to Canada, Stu Phillips decided to become an American citizen with his wife Aldona in a ceremony over the 4th of July weekend in 1998. It happened on the Grand Ole Opry stage.

“Our lives simply evolved over the years and took a new direction,” Stu said. “Whenever I traveled overseas, I used to think of Canada as my home. After moving to Nashville, our lives became integrated into this land with all its comforts. Now, whenever I travel overseas, home is Tennessee, where I live.”

Though Stu Phillips continued to tour and perform on the Opry well into his advanced age, he also attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee where he became ordained as a minister in the Episcopal Church. He was also inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993.

When Buck White of The Whites passed away in January of this year at the age of 94, Stu Phillips officially became the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry. Phillips was an Opry member for 58 years.

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