Jimmy Dean

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Jimmy Ray Dean (born August 10, 1928 in Plainview , Texas , † June 13, 2010 in Varina , Virginia ) was an American country musician , actor and entrepreneur. He was inducted (posthumously) into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010 .

Life

Beginnings

Jimmy Dean came from a poor farming family. At the age of ten he learned guitar , piano and other instruments. At the age of sixteen he entered the merchant navy, two years later he was drafted into the American air force . Here he first became a member of a band, the Tennessee Haymakers . After his release, he founded the Texas Wildcats .

Career

Nine Pound Hammer , live

In 1952 he recorded his first single. Bumming Around reached a respectable number five on the country charts. In 1957 he got his own TV show, the Jimmy Dean Show , which, however, had only few viewers due to an unfavorable airtime. In the same year he signed a record deal with the Columbia label . After a long dry spell, he published his own composition Big Bad John in 1961 . The Grammy- winning single reached number one on both the country and pop charts and was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s.

With the anti-communist Dear Ivan and PT-109 , a song about the warship that was once commanded by John F. Kennedy , he reached top positions in the charts in 1962. Thanks to these successes, the Jimmy Dean show was also revived. He reached the top of the country charts again in 1965 with the title The First Thing Ev'ry Morning (And The Last Thing Ev'ry Night) . The sales of his records then gradually decreased, although he was still represented in the charts. His last top ten placement was in 1976 with IOU

Dean was all the more successful in business. He founded the Jimmy Dean Meat Company , for which he also acted as an advertising medium. His television commercials for Jimmy Dean Pure Pork Sausage eventually made him more popular than his musical successes.

In 1971 he played the role of Willard Whyte in the James Bond film Diamond Fever . In it he plays a billionaire with a wide corporate network. He is held captive by the villain Blofeld. He uses his empire to threaten the world. Whyte was a tribute to Howard Hughes .

Discography (albums)

  • 1957 - Jimmy Dean Sings His Television Favorites
  • 1958 - Jimmy Dean's Hour Of Prayer
  • 1960 - Hymns By Jimmy Dean
  • 1961 - Big Bad John
  • 1965 - Jimmy Dean's Christmas Card
  • 1968 - Speaker Of The House
  • 1969 - Jimmy Dean - Gotta Travel on
  • 1976 - Jimmy Dean - IOU

Movie

James Bond 007 Diamond Fever (1971) as Willard Whyte

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Country music legend, sausage pitchman Jimmy Dean at edition.cnn.com. Retrieved June 14, 2010
  2. ↑ For the title Big Bad John, see Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 100
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits. 1944-2006 . 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 102

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Dean, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dean, Jimmy Ray (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country musician, actor, and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Plainview , Texas
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 2010
Place of death Varina , Virginia