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(Originally posted 26December2019)It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my personal friend, Thomas "Sleepy" Paulsley LaBeef. He had passed away about thirty minutes ago. He was born July 20, 1935. Sleepy was born in Smackover, Arkansas, and was the youngest of ten children. He had received the nickname "Sleepy" as the result of a lazy eye. He had moved to Houston, Texas, when he was eighteen, where he sang gospel music on local radio and put together a bar band to play venues as well as radio programs such as the "Houston Jamboree" and "Louisiana Hayride". The first time I had met Sleepy, he was a mountain of a man. I mean he stood over six feet tall, dressed in black, boots and wore a Fedora hat. We had talked a lot about music and Carl Perkins. Sleepy was a member of the Rock & Roll and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. Around 1971, Sleepy had also starred in the horror movie, "The Exotic Ones". In recent years, Sleepy had been enjoying his Grandchildren. When not doing that, he was on tour in Europe. Sleepy was also a member of the United Pentecostal Church. I was going to interview Sleepy for The Vinyl Grotto Radio Show, we had talked about it, but it had just never quite come into being. Sleepy has a "new" son.. actually, he did for years, but didn't know it. Many years ago, he had a "relationship" with a woman from one of his concert appearances. This relationship had produced this son. Sleepy's son had told me, that his mother had become a follower of the Jim Jones religious cult in Guiana, South Africa. You remember.. the mass suicide with poisoned Kool-Aid. His mother had died, but his son is the only one who had survived. I have the whole thing in my notes somewhere... His son lives in California now. When he would come back to spend last Thanksgiving with Sleepy and Linda, we were all going to sit down and do the interview. Well, I just wanted to get this out there, and let you know of this very sad news. I may add more to this later