JOHNNY HORTON
Johnny Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960), was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called “saga songs” which began the “historical ballad” craze of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. With them, he had several major successes, most notably in 1959 with the song “The Battle of New Orleans” (written by Jimmy Driftwood), which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. His first hit, a number 1 song in 1959, was “When It’s Springtime in Alaska (It’s Forty Below)”. During 1960, Horton had two other successes with “North to Alaska” for John Wayne’s movie, North to Alaska and “Sink the Bismarck”. Horton is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. (More from Wikipedia)
Country music and rockabilly artist Johnny Horton had a good streak of his own going with several “historical ballads”, beginning with “The Battle of New Orleans” in 1959; the song won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. Horton continuing the following year with two more hits, “Sink the Bismarck” and “North to Alaska” (the latter being the theme song for the John Wayne movie called North to Alaska). There is no telling how much further Horton might have been able to take this craze had it not been for his tragic death in November 1960.
(March 2013)
