Johnny Preston

John Preston Courville (August 18, 1939 – March 4, 2011), known professionally as Johnny Preston, was an American rock and roll singer, best known for his 1959 international number one hit "Running Bear" and his 1960 hit “Cradle of Love”

Born in Port Arthur, Texas, of Cajun and German ancestry, Preston sang in high school choral contests throughout the state of Texas. He formed a rock and roll band called the Shades, who were seen performing at a local club by J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

Richardson offered Preston the chance to record a teenage tragedy song he had written, "Running Bear", which they did in Houston, Texas, in 1958. The "Indian" sounds on the record were performed by Richardson and George Jones. The record was released after the Big Bopper's death in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on February 3, 1959. It entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October 1959, reaching number one in January 1960 and remaining there for three weeks. It was a transatlantic chart-topper, reaching number one in the United Kingdom in March 1960. The sales of the record exceeded one million copies, earning Preston his first gold disc.

Preston quickly followed up with another hit called "Cradle of Love" (Billboard number 7, UK number 2), and made several other records during the early 1960s that met with modest success. "Cradle of Love" was a hit in both the UK Singles Chart and in Athens, Greece. Preston's "I'm Starting to Go Steady", a song on the flip side of "Feel So Fine", (Billboard number 14, UK number 18) was released in June 1960. "Leave My Kitten Alone", a song later made famous as part of The Beatles Anthology 1, was a minor hit for Preston. He later made appearances on American Bandstand (ABC-TV) and The Milt Grant Show and also The Buddy Deane Show (East Coast, United States).

Preston's pioneering contribution to the genre was recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He also performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.