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Johnny Preston Obit: 1939-2011

H

hornet61

Guest
Johnny Preston from Beaumont Tx, died of heart failure, a couple of months after bypass surgery.
He had some cool songs, "Running Bear" and "Cradle of Love"...he had a great falsetto that he used prominently on his cover of "Feel So Fine". I caught him in Vegas about 8years ago on a Bobby Vee tour, nice guy, sounded great. Great story behind the recording of "Running Bear"..I'll let someone else re-count It. He recorded a song that was a favorite of the Beatles, any guess's out there.?
 
FRR said:
I'd love to hear that story about Running Bear. Yes, he had 3 great songs. Sleep well Johnny
Click to expand...
Well if no is gonna jump in there..here is what I recall, Running Bear was written Jiles Perry
"Big Bopper" Richardson who also wrote "White lightning" recorded by George Jones. Bopper and Jones were hangin' at the studio when Johnny Preston recorded "Running Bear" and It Is Jones and Bopper doing the Uga uga uga-Indians back-ground vocals on the record. Johnny Preston also recorded a song called "Leave My Kitten Alone" covered five years later by the Beatles.
A nice Preston song that got a lot of airplay at the time of release, thou It didn't chart, was Charming Billy.
Ironically "Running Bear" was released almost a year after the death of the Big Bopper and became the second #1 of the entire decade of the 60's after El Paso.
 
hornet61 said:
FRR said:
I'd love to hear that story about Running Bear. Yes, he had 3 great songs. Sleep well Johnny
Click to expand...
Well if no is gonna jump in there..here is what I recall, Running Bear was written Jiles Perry
"Big Bopper" Richardson who also wrote "White lightning" recorded by George Jones. Bopper and Jones were hangin' at the studio when Johnny Preston recorded "Running Bear" and It Is Jones and Bopper doing the Uga uga uga-Indians back-ground vocals on the record. Johnny Preston also recorded a song called "Leave My Kitten Alone" covered five years later by the Beatles.
A nice Preston song that got a lot of airplay at the time of release, thou It didn't chart, was Charming Billy.
Ironically "Running Bear" was released almost a year after the death of the Big Bopper and became the second #1 of the entire decade of the 60's after El Paso.
Click to expand...

Running Bear is great, but Cradle Of Love is my favorite. RIP Johnny.
 
TheFonz said:
hornet61 said:
He recorded a song that was a favorite of the Beatles, any guess's out there.?
Click to expand...

I'm thinking that would be "Leave My Kitten Alone"
Click to expand...

Give the winner a cigar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1WytU0yZwI

as a 14 year old DJ, hosting my wednesday afternoon neighborhood sock hops, I wore out my copy of "Cradle Of Love" On Mercury records and Red River Rock by Johnny and the Hurricanes. the flip side of Red River Rock entitled Buckeye wasn't bad either.
 
Running Bear was a favorite of mine....was sort of a novelty song for me always making its transitions from a rain dance beat to be-bop.

Cool Bobby B. surely plays this song on occasions still.

Rest in peace Johnny.
 
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