Johnny Horton Biography

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Johnny Horton
Country Music | 3 CD Set
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Johnny Horton will probably be forever linked with New Orleans, but he had a fair amount of songs in the country and rockabilly idioms before unexpectedly dying at the age of 35. Born in 1925 in Los Angeles, Horton grew up in Texas when his family moved there to be sharecroppers. Before music took over his life — although his mother taught him guitar — he was an athlete and won scholarships first to Baylor and then to the University of Seattle. He also worked in the fishing industry and when he secured a gig singing on Pasadena radio KXLA in 1950, he was called the Singing Fisherman. Horton’s first record contract was in 1951 with Cormac and later on the Abbott label, moving in 1952 to Mercury Records. However, he and the company did not agree on material to record and he eventually left. Signing with Columbia in 1953, he and manager Tillman Franks wrote "Honky Tonk Man," which was his debut on the country charts. He recorded it the day after Elvis Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel" and he was able to use Presley’s bassist, Bill Black. Dwight Yoakam re-made "Honky Tonk Man" in 1986 and George Jones revived another tune Horton had recorded earlier that day, "I’m a One-Woman Man," in 1989. Switching directions in 1959, Horton moved to story songs, hence his New Orleans connection. He recorded Jimmie Driftwood’s "The Battle of New Orleans," which rocketed to No. 1 on pop and country charts and was still a lively hit when he died the following year, even though he had a hit with "Johnny Reb" and then "Sal’s Got a Sugar Lip," "New Orleans" was big in the UK, too, as Lonnie Donegan made it No. 2 there and Horton achieved a respectable No. 16. The BBC banished it from playlists because it referred to "the bloody British" in the lyric. Horton continued with "Sink the Bismarck" (charted No. 3) and the title song from the John Wayne film, "North To Alaska," which made No. 4 on the pop charts and No. 1 on country lists. Horton married Billie Jean Williams, Hank Williams’ widow, in 1953 but she became a country star’s widow a second time when Horton was killed in an auto accident November 5, 1960.

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