Leroy Van Dyke

In 1967, Leroy Van Dyke was awarded the Founding President's Award (formerly Connie B. Gay Award) from the Country Music Association.

In the UK Singles Chart Van Dyke had two hits: "Walk on By" reached number five in February 1962, and "Big Man in a Big House" made number 34 in May that year.

In his 50 years-plus career, Van Dyke has recorded more than 500 songs, dozens of them making the charts. His record of "Walk on By" (1961) was named by Billboard magazine in 1994 as the biggest country single of all time, based on sales, plays, and weeks in the charts. It stayed at number one in the U.S. country chart for 19 weeks, and in all, charted for 42 weeks, reaching number five on the pop listings. It sold more than 1.5 million copies.

Van Dyke was born in Mora, Missouri. He lived in Spencer, Wisconsin, and graduated from the University of Missouri majoring in agricultural journalism. He was catapulted into country music fame in 1956 with his composition "The Auctioneer", co-written with Buddy Black, which sold over 2.5 million records. He wrote the song about the life of his cousin, National Auctioneers Association Hall of Famer Ray Sims, also a Missourian. Van Dyke had the lead role of a budding country music performer in the 1967 movie What Am I Bid? in which Sims played himself as an auctioneer.

He was a cast member in the late 1950s on Ozark Jubilee, and was co-host, with Bill Mack, of the Southern Baptist Radio/TV Commission-produced Country Crossroads radio show for 10 years, and was joined by a third co-host Jerry Clower. It became the most widely syndicated radio show in country music history.

Leroy Frank Van Dyke (born October 4, 1929) is an American country music and honky-tonk singer and guitarist, best known for his hits "The Auctioneer" (1956) and "Walk on By" (1961).