Johnny Preston

Johnny Preston (born August 18, 1939 in Port Arthur , Texas , † March 4, 2011 in Beaumont , Texas; real name John Preston Courville ) was an American rock 'n' roll and rockabilly singer who mainly became famous with his number one hit Running Bear .

Life

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Running bear   US 1 10/12/1959 (27 weeks)   UK 1 02/12/1960 (16 weeks)   DE 36 04/09/1960 (4 weeks) Cradle of Love   US 7th 03/28/1960 (15 weeks)   UK 2 04/21/1960 (16 weeks) I'm starting to go steady   UK 49 07/28/1960 (1 week) Feel so fine   US 14th 06/20/1960 (14 weeks)   UK 18th 08/11/1960 (10 weeks) Charming Billy   UK 34 December 8, 1960 (3 weeks) Leave My Kitten Alone   US 73 01/30/1961 (5 weeks)

Preston's ancestors were Germans and members of the French-speaking Cajun population from Louisiana . Even with his high school choir, he was performing in competitions across Texas. At Lamar State College in Beaumont , he founded the rhythm and blues band The Shades, which made a name for themselves in south Texas. At a concert in Beaumont, he met the disc jockey J. P. Richardson - who became known as The Big Bopper - and music producer Bill Hall know. Both made sure that Preston was invited to test recordings at their record company Mercury Records . After several attempts failed by Preston's stage fright, Richardson wrote the song Running Bear for Preston , a story about the Indian Running Bear and the Indian girl Little White Dove, whose love has no happy ending . After recording the song in the fall of 1958 at Gold Star Studios in Houston , Preston received a recording deal with Mercury Records, which released Running Bear on July 6, 1959. Richardson did not live to see the release of his song because he had died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash. After two attempts, Running Bear established itself on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1959 and was number one there in January and February 1960. The title was also successful in Great Britain and also conquered the top of the charts on March 11, 1960 for two weeks. Running Bear with Johnny Preston became a millionaire success worldwide .

In the meantime Preston had separated from his band The Shades, and Mercury released Preston's first long-playing record under the title Running Bear in January 1960 (cat. No. 20592). On February 29, 1960 his second single was released, which was produced like all subsequent Mercury recordings in Nashville . Cradle of Love , written by Jack Fautheree and Wayne Gray, also became a top 10 hit in the US and UK. The success of his records brought Preston on his first tour - together with Conway Twitty and Freddy Cannon  - through Great Britain in 1960 . A few minor hits followed this year and next, including covers of Shirley & Lee's Feel So Good as Feel So Fine and Little Willie John's Leave My Kitten Alone . But after just over a year, Preston's hit parade presence was over.

In October 1962 he brought out his last single on Mercury with Let The Big Boss Man / Day After Forever . After she was also unsuccessful, he moved to the Imperial record company in 1963 , where however there was only one equally unsuccessful record release. Even switching to the small record label Hall-Way did not bring a return to the hit lists. His multiple attempts to change the singing style were unsuccessful. Preston was still able to draw on his earlier successes and organized numerous tours. He was a guest at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater, and between 1998 and 2005 he made several appearances in Great Britain and in 2006 went on a tour of Australia.

In December 2010, Preston underwent cardiac bypass surgery from which he did not recover. As a result of the surgery, he died at the age of 71 on March 4, 2011 in Beaumont Baptist Hospital in Texas. As one of the pioneers of rockabilly, Preston was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

US discography (45 rpm singles)

title	Cat.No.	released
	Mercury
Running Bear / My Heart Knows	71474	July 6, 1959
Cradle Of Love / City Of Tears	71598	February 29, 1960
Feel So Fine / I'm Starting To Go Steady	71651	June 6, 1960
Up In The Air / Charming Billy	71691	October 3, 1960
I Want A Rock And Roll Guitar / New Baby For Christmas	71728	November 21, 1960
Leave My Kitten Alone / Token Of Love	71761	January 9, 1961
Willy Walk / I Feel Good	71803	April 17, 1961
She Once Belonged To Me / Let Them Talk	71865	August 28, 1961
Kissin 'Tree / Free Me	71908	4th December 1961
Let's Leave It That Way / Broken Hearts Anonymous	71951	April 21, 1962
Let The Big Boss Man / Day After Forever	72049	October 20, 1962
	Imperial
This Little Bitty Tear / The Day The World Stood Still	5924	February 23, 1963
	Hall Way
All Around The World / Just Plain Hurt	1201	May 2, 1964
Willie And The Hand Jive / I've Got My Eyes On You	1204	9/1964
Running Bear '65 / Dedicated To The One I Love	1927	1965

literature

• Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . Billboard Publications, New York 1988, ISBN 0-8230-7545-1 , p. 64
• Frank Laufenberg: Rock and Pop Lexicon Vol. 2 . Econ Taschenbuch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1998, ISBN 3-612-26206-8 , p. 1192
• Günter Ehnert : British Chart Singles 1950-1965 . Taurus Press, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-922542-32-8 , p. 141

Web links

• detailed biography at www.rockabilly.nl
• Discography at rcs-discography.com
• Admission protocols at countrydiscography.blogspot.com
• Preston at Billboard
• Rockabilly Hall of Fame

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to other sources, e.g. B. rcs-discography.com 1930
2. ↑ US chart positions according to Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Singles 1955–1993 . Monomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc., 1994, p. 476; UK chart positions according to David Roberts (ed.): Guinness World Records - British Hit Singles and Albums , 19th ed., 2006, ISBN 1-904994-10-5 ; D-Chart position for Running Bear according to Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956–1980 . Taurus Press, Hamburg, p. 163