Johnny Tillotson

Genres:	Comedy • Country & Bluegrass • Easy Listening • Musicals & The Arts • Pop / Rock
Descriptive "tags":	oldies • 60s • pop • rock n roll • rock and roll • male vocalists • johnny tillotson
Decades Active:	1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s
Links online:	Official Homepage • Wikipedia

Biography

20 April 1939, Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Tillotson’s father was a country music disc jockey and Johnny himself was appearing on local radio from the age of nine. His parents encouraged his talent by giving him first a ukulele and then a guitar, and he was influenced by the singing cowboys (Gene Autry, Roy Rogers) and country singer Hank Williams. He appeared regularly on Tom Dowdy’s television show, from which he was recommended to Archie Bleyer, the owner of Cadence Records. His first single in 1958, recorded while he was completing his BSc in Journalism And Communications, combined the teen ballad ‘Dreamy Eyes’ with the up-tempo ‘Well, I’m Your Man’. Although his roots were in country music, he was encouraged to revive the R&B ballads ‘Never Let Me Go’, ‘Pledging My Love’ and ‘Earth Angel’. In 1960 he released the classic teen-ballad ‘Poetry In Motion’, which went to number 2 in the...

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