Johnny and the Hurricanes

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Johnny and the Hurricanes were an American rock and roll band that enjoyed international success with rock instrumentals in the early 1960s.

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Stormsville
  UK 18th December 3rd, 1960 (1 week)
Big Sound of Johnny & the Hurricanes
  UK 13 04/01/1961 (4 weeks)
Singles
Crossfire
  US 23 05/02/1959 (14 weeks)
Red River Rock
  DE 3 11/01/1959 (32 weeks)
  UK 3 10/15/1959 (16 weeks)
  US 5 08/08/1959 (17 weeks)
Reveille rock
  DE 24 03/01/1960 (8 weeks)
  UK 14th December 31, 1959 (5 weeks)
  US 25th 07/11/1959 (13 weeks)
Beatnik Fly
  DE 31 06/01/1960 (8 weeks)
  UK 8th 03/23/1960 (19 weeks)
  US 15th 02/20/1960 (13 weeks)
Down Yonder
  DE 32 07/01/1960 (4 weeks)
  UK 8th 06/22/1960 (11 weeks)
  US 48 06/04/1960 (9 weeks)
revival
  US 97 09/03/1960 (1 week)
Rocking Goose
  UK 3 05.10.1960 (20 weeks)
  US 60 09/10/1960 (6 weeks)
You Are My Sunshine
  US 91 December 10, 1960 (1 week)
Yes there
  UK 14th 03/08/1961 (9 weeks)
  US 86 03/04/1961 (2 weeks)
Old Smokie / High Voltage
  UK 24 07/06/1961 (8 weeks)

Band history

Johnny and the Hurricanes emerged from a group of music-making school friends in Toledo, Ohio . Head and only permanent member of the band was Johnny Paris. He learned to play the saxophone for the school band. Since his parents were from Poland and he grew up in the Polish community of Rossford , he first founded the Black Cats , a dance and polka band.

It was followed in 1957 by the rocking Orbits with friends from the school environment who played at school parties and festivals. After graduating from school, a year later another musician asked them to accompany him at an audition for a record label. It was not he who was signed, but Orbits. John Pocisk became Johnny Paris and the Orbits became Johnny and the Hurricanes . Irving Micahnik and Harry Balk, who had signed them for the Twirl label, produced the debut single Crossfire that same year . This hit immediately and became a chart hit in the USA.

For the second single, the two producers took an old country song called Red River Valley , turned it into a rock-and-roll number, and signed up as authors under the pseudonyms Tom King and Ira Mack. The Red River Rock , as the new instrumental piece was called, became a big hit and reached the top 5. The song was also released in Europe and became a huge success there too. In Great Britain and Germany the song reached number 3 in the charts. In total, the single sold over a million times. The recipe was also used for the following singles. The US Army's bugle call Reveille became Reveille Rock and the children's song-like Blue Tail Fly became Beatnik Fly , giving Johnny and the Hurricanes two more international top 40 hits. With the following singles, however, the interest in the USA decreased. In Europe they remained successful and with Rocking Goose they had a second number 3 hit in England.

In 1962 they appeared in the famous Hamburg Star Club and were the main act, supported by the newly discovered Beatles . In the following period, the popularity reversed and beat music dominated the charts, while Hurricanes rock fell in popularity. Until 1965 Johnny and the Hurricanes continued to record singles, but no more hits were among them. The main musicians and thus the defining instruments of the band's music were Johnny Paris with the saxophone and Paul Tesluk with the Hammond organ. The dominant type of Paris, however, apparently did not suit the band climate so much; after the drummer Kaye had already been changed at the end of 1959, the guitarists Yorko and Mattice left the band in 1961. When the great popularity was over, the Hurricanes fell apart completely. In the 1970s there were still occasional performances from Paris with various musicians, but only as an additional activity. He himself earned his living with various jobs and dog breeding. He only moved to Germany in the 1980s and devoted himself mainly to music as a saxophone player and regular appearances as Johnny and the Hurricanes into the new millennium.

In 1989 he married a German author. In 2006 Johnny Paris died at the age of 65 as a result of a spleen operation.

Band members

Cast around 1959:

  • Johnny Paris (born August 29, 1940 in Walbridge , Ohio, as John M. Pocisk, † May 1, 2006 in Ann Arbor , Michigan), saxophone
  • Paul Tesluk (* 1941), Hammond organ
  • Dave Yorko (1943-2017), guitar
  • Lionel "Butch" Mattice (* 1941), bass guitar
  • Tony Kaye (* 1941; until 1959) / Bill Savich from Detroit (from 1959), drums

Discography

Albums

  • Red River Rock (1960)
  • Stormsville (1960)
  • The Big Sound of Johnny and the Hurricanes (1961)
  • Live at the Star Club Hamburg (1962)

Singles

  • Crossfire (1958)
  • Red River Rock (1959)
  • Reveille Rock (1959)
  • Beatnik Fly (1960)
  • Rockin 'T (1960)
  • The Hep Canary (1960)
  • Down Yonder (1960)
  • Rocking Goose (1960)
  • You Are My Sunshine (1960)
  • Yes-Da (1961)
  • High Voltage (1961)
  • Old Smokie (1961)
  • Farewell Farewell (1961)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: US (Billboard), UK (OCC), DE: Germany (chart surfer)
  2. ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Barry Graves: Rock-Lexikon. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1973, 2nd edition 1975, reprint 1978, p. 195.
  3. ↑ David Yorko, 1943-2017: Rocker wasn't 'typical musician' - Obituary in Toledo Blade