Fred Rose (musician)

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Fred Rose (August 24, 1897 - December 1, 1954) was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.

Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips and eventually made it into vaudeville. Eventually he became successful as a songwriter, penning his first hit for entertainer Sophie Tucker.

For a short time Fred Rose lived in Nashville, Tennessee but his radio show there did not last long and he headed to New York City's Tin Pan Alley in hopes of making a living as a songwriter. It was there that he began writing songs for Gene Autry, a film star known as the "Singing Cowboy", and this collaboration opened the door to the possibilities in the country music genre. In 1942 he returned to Nashville to team up with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff to create the first Nashville-based music publishing company. Their Acuff-Rose Music would prove highly successful, particularly with the success of client, Hank Williams.

While running the business, Fred Rose continued to write numerous country songs and would become one of the industry's most important personalities.

Fred Rose died in Nashville in 1954 and was interred there in the Mount Olivet Cemetery. His son, Wesley Rose, would take over the presidency of the company and continue to build on his father's success.

On its founding in 1961, Fred Rose was made a charter member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.