Bill Beach obit

Rockabilly musician, longtime SWFL performer Bill Beach dies at age 92

 He was not on the list.

Bill Beach played music for more than 75 years, performing as a teen alongside Hank Williams Sr., Minnie Pearl and others.

In the later seasons of his life, Beach was well-known in Southwest Florida for performing for decades at Stan's Idle Hour Restaurant, a world-renowned Goodland bar.

Beach died late last month in Ohio at age 92.

Beach grew up on a Kentucky tobacco farm and began performing at the age of 16. He was part of a West Virginia and Pennsylvania traveling group that opened for country legends Williams Sr., Pearl and Grandpa Jones, said Bonnie McDaniel, Beach's daughter.

After high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served honorably during the Korean War, "a patriot and fiercely devoted to his country," McDaniel said in an email.

Beach earned the rank of sergeant and received many commendations for his rifle expertise.

"Always the consummate entertainer and great storyteller, he could light up a room with laughter and telling jokes and tales," she said.

He began to write songs, including the rockabilly tunes "Peg Pants" and "You're Gonna Like Me Baby." Beach's entertainment success was highlighted by being inducted into The Rockabilly Hall of Fame for his songs.

He wrote and performed both songs and in 1956 recorded them at King Records in Cincinnati. The songs have been featured on multiple rockabilly musical compilations with other famous artists such as Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

"He was known for writing songs that were reflective of the times," McDaniel said.

With the resurgence of rockabilly in the late 1980s in Europe, "Peg Pants" once again enjoyed radio success there, according to Beach's Wikipedia page.

Beach left performing in 1963 after his wife, Barbara, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"He quit music to care for her," McDaniel said. "He did not pick up a guitar again until he moved to Marco and met Stan."

Beach became a successful small business owner of Beach's Sewing Center, which provided specialty sewing machines and sewing education to generations of Greater Cincinnati families.

When Bill retired, he split his time between Southwest Florida and Tennessee. He started playing regularly at Stan's Idle Hour from 1995 to 2013, also traveling with bar owner Stan Gober across the U.S. Gober died in 2012 and an open-casket memorial service was held at the bar.

Beach began performing and recording music again in his 60s after retiring and he won several songwriting contests. He was commissioned in 2009 by Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research to write a song commemorating the discovery of a new species of fish off the coastal waters of Florida, the Batfish.

His song, "Batfish Boogie," is played annually at the Bash for the Bay in Naples, McDaniel said.

Beach continued performing and writing songs well into his late 80s. He spent his last years living in Hamilton, Ohio, where he was close to his family, his daughter said.