| Johnny Horton |
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Johnny Horton
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Birth name: |
Johnny Gale Horton |
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Born: |
April 30, 1925 |
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Origin: |
Los Angeles, California |
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Years active: |
1950-1960 |
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Labels: |
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248
Phoots comi...
John Gale Horton (April 30, 1925–November 5, 1960), known professionally as Johnny Horton, was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. With them, he had several major successes, most notably during 1959 with the song "The Battle of New Orleans" which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, and during 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America's "Songs of the Century".
During 1960, Horton had two other successes with "North to Alaska" for John Wayne's movie, North to Alaska, and "Sink the Bismarck". Horton is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Horton was born in Los Angeles, California, to John and Claudia Horton, the youngest of five siblings, but raised in Rusk in eastern Texas. His family traveled back and forth from California often as migrant fruit pickers. They returned often to the Rusk/Gallatin area in Texas. After graduation from Gallatin High School during 1944, he attended the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College (then named Lon Morris Junior College) in Jacksonville, Texas, with a basketball scholarship. He later attended Seattle University and also briefly attended Baylor University, although he did not graduate from any of these institutions.
Horton soon went back to California where he found work in the mail room of Hollywood's Selznick Studio. It was here that he met his future wife, secretary Donna Cook.
Horton and older brother Frank briefly pursued the study of geology at Seattle during 1948 but both ended after a few weeks. He went to Florida, then back to California before Horton left for Alaska to look for gold. It was during this period that he began writing songs. He joined Frank in Seattle, went south to Los Angeles, then after Frank married, left for Texas. After much prompting from his sister Marie, he entered a talent contest at the Reo Palm Isle club in Longview, Texas, sponsored by radio station KGRI in Henderson. Hosted by station radio announcer and future country music star Jim Reeves, Horton won first prize—an ashtray on a pedestal. Encouraged by the contest, he went back to California, bought some Western-style clothes and entered talent contests.
Horton came to the attention of entrepreneur Fabor Robison, whose first job as manager was to give him a job with Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree on KXLA-TV in Pasadena. During his early guest performances he worked with musicians such as Merle Travis and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The station then gave him a regular half hour Saturday night program billed as the Singing Fisherman where he sang and displayed his casting skills with a fishing rod. Around this time he also hosted the radio program Hacienda Party Time for KLAC-TV in Los Angeles. During 1950 he is rumored to have appeared in two movies with Gary Cooper, The Story Of Will Rogers and Distant Drums.
A mixture of Horton's television performances and Robison's acquaintances earned him a couple of single albums with the minor Cormac recording company. The first single coupled "Plaid And Calico" with "Done Rovin'" and the second "Coal Smoke, Valve Oil and Steam" with "Birds and Butterflies". The company then terminated and Robinson acquired the masters and started his own company named Abbott Records. By mid 1952, ten Horton singles had been issued but none were very successful. They were, for the most part, ordinary Western-style songs.
After marriage to Donna and a honeymoon in Palm Springs, he relocated back east to be near the Louisiana Hayride where he was then scheduled to appear on a regular basis. Robison persuaded Mercury Records A&R man Walter Kilpatrick to hire Horton, who began with his songs "First Train Headed South" b/w "(I Wished for an Angel) The Devil Sent Me You" (Mercury 6412), with good reviews by the trade newspapers.
Horton was married twice. His first marriage, to Donna Cook, ended with a divorce granted in Rusk. During September 1953, he married Billie Jean Jones. Jones was the widow of country music singer Hank Williams, to whom she had been married for the two-and-a-half months prior to his death. With Billie Jean, Horton had two daughters, Yanina (Nina) and Melody. Billie Jean's daughter, Jerry, was also part of the family.
During 1960, Horton had two other successes with "North to Alaska" for John Wayne's movie, North to Alaska, and "Sink the Bismarck". Horton is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Horton was born in Los Angeles, California, to John and Claudia Horton, the youngest of five siblings, but raised in Rusk in eastern Texas. His family traveled back and forth from California often as migrant fruit pickers. They returned often to the Rusk/Gallatin area in Texas. After graduation from Gallatin High School during 1944, he attended the Methodist-affiliated Lon Morris College (then named Lon Morris Junior College) in Jacksonville, Texas, with a basketball scholarship. He later attended Seattle University and also briefly attended Baylor University, although he did not graduate from any of these institutions.
Horton soon went back to California where he found work in the mail room of Hollywood's Selznick Studio. It was here that he met his future wife, secretary Donna Cook.
Horton and older brother Frank briefly pursued the study of geology at Seattle during 1948 but both ended after a few weeks. He went to Florida, then back to California before Horton left for Alaska to look for gold. It was during this period that he began writing songs. He joined Frank in Seattle, went south to Los Angeles, then after Frank married, left for Texas. After much prompting from his sister Marie, he entered a talent contest at the Reo Palm Isle club in Longview, Texas, sponsored by radio station KGRI in Henderson. Hosted by station radio announcer and future country music star Jim Reeves, Horton won first prize—an ashtray on a pedestal. Encouraged by the contest, he went back to California, bought some Western-style clothes and entered talent contests.
Horton came to the attention of entrepreneur Fabor Robison, whose first job as manager was to give him a job with Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree on KXLA-TV in Pasadena. During his early guest performances he worked with musicians such as Merle Travis and Tennessee Ernie Ford. The station then gave him a regular half hour Saturday night program billed as the Singing Fisherman where he sang and displayed his casting skills with a fishing rod. Around this time he also hosted the radio program Hacienda Party Time for KLAC-TV in Los Angeles. During 1950 he is rumored to have appeared in two movies with Gary Cooper, The Story Of Will Rogers and Distant Drums.
A mixture of Horton's television performances and Robison's acquaintances earned him a couple of single albums with the minor Cormac recording company. The first single coupled "Plaid And Calico" with "Done Rovin'" and the second "Coal Smoke, Valve Oil and Steam" with "Birds and Butterflies". The company then terminated and Robinson acquired the masters and started his own company named Abbott Records. By mid 1952, ten Horton singles had been issued but none were very successful. They were, for the most part, ordinary Western-style songs.
After marriage to Donna and a honeymoon in Palm Springs, he relocated back east to be near the Louisiana Hayride where he was then scheduled to appear on a regular basis. Robison persuaded Mercury Records A&R man Walter Kilpatrick to hire Horton, who began with his songs "First Train Headed South" b/w "(I Wished for an Angel) The Devil Sent Me You" (Mercury 6412), with good reviews by the trade newspapers.
Horton was married twice. His first marriage, to Donna Cook, ended with a divorce granted in Rusk. During September 1953, he married Billie Jean Jones. Jones was the widow of country music singer Hank Williams, to whom she had been married for the two-and-a-half months prior to his death. With Billie Jean, Horton had two daughters, Yanina (Nina) and Melody. Billie Jean's daughter, Jerry, was also part of the family.