SEPTEMBER 22, 2004  -  Las Vegas - Summerlin South View - special section to the Las Vegas Review Journal  -  "Country Music Queen - Yodeler inducted into Hall of Fame"  By Jan Hogan

As a child, ETHEL DELANEY was nicknamed the Swiss Miss Yodeler.  She was a regular on a weekly radio show aired on WWVA-AM Radio in Wheeling, W. Va., and has been entertaining people ever since.

She signed a two-year contract with Deco Records in 1964.  In 1967, she signed with Ohio Records, the company she's been with ever since.

Recently the National Traditional Country Music Association inducted Delaney, into America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in Anita, Iowa.  She provided a stage costume, an autographed picture and copies of her early singles and albums to complete her display.

It's been a long road to such recognition.  Besides radio and one-night gigs, her younger years were filled with appearances at country fairs and similar events, often alongside stars of the WWVA Jamboree.  She was always chaperoned by her parents.

Her husband, Russ, grew up in the same area and recalls watching her perform at school and community events.  His father ran the gas station Ethel Delaney's parents frequented.  She barely paid him any mind but he definitely noticed her.

One night he saw her at a nightclub with her girlfriends and asked her to dance.  It wasn't long after they were married.

She took a break from performing to raise their two children Russ Jr. and Sandra.  But when a friend called and asked her to sing with his band, she stepped right back into her role as a performer.

"When I got on stage, it felt like I'd never left," she said.

In 1964, she formed her own band the Buckeye Strings and, when not recording, toured with them on a 45-foot bus.  Russ Delaney played pedal steel guitar and banjo for the band.  Their son was drummer and vocalist.

Ethel Delaney performed at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in 1965.  It was about that time her fan club was formed.  At one point it had 500 members.  It was run by her daughter.

Ethel Delaney is known for songs like "He Taught Me To Yodel," "Swiss On Rye," "Going To The Country," "Hillbilly Leprechauns" and "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart."

Throughout her career, the yodeler rubbed elbows with notables like Tammy Wynette, Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens and fellow yodeler Jean Sheperd.

In 1970, Ethel Delaney was nominated for Top Country Western Female Artist by the Country Music Association.  Also that same year, she was voted one of the top five Country Western Female Artists in Sweden.

She started playing Las Vegas in 1980, appearing in lounges at casinos like The Mint, Landmark, New Frontier and Stardust.  She and the band would perform in town six months at a time.

"Back then, we got the bad shift, from midnight to 6 a.m.," she said.  "By that time, everybody was either drunk or tired or..something."

Vegas throat was a concern and she treated it with tea and honey.

Russ and Ethel Delaney moved to Las Vegas about 15 years ago.  They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary May 24, renewing their wedding vows.  Their children acted as witnesses and later presented their parents with a cruise to Hawaii.

They also had dinner at a local German restaurant.  There, Russ Delaney spoke to the restaurant's music director and soon Ethel Delaney took the stage.

"She brought the house down," he said with a big grin.

Ethel Delaney, self-taught on guitar and piano, has written about a dozen songs.  A few of them are on her new CD, "Turning Back Time," available through her Web site www.etheldelaney.bizland.com/