Jimmy Clanton
Wikimp3 information about the music of Jimmy Clanton. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Jimmy Clanton. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Jimmy Clanton represents Pop genres.
Biography
[Edit]To most rock & roll listeners who recognize it at all, the name Jimmy Clanton likely evokes one image — the slightly stiff but honest performance that Clanton gave in Go Johnny Go, the 1959 Alan Freed-produced jukebox movie. It would be difficult, based on the evidence of that film, to tell that Clanton was one of the most serious and complex of the generation of teen idols in which he is usually grouped, standing head and shoulders above the likes of Fabian, Bobby Rydell, and others, but Clanton was a dedicated R&B enthusiast and singer with a great voice and a genuine feel for New Orleans music. What's more, he also wrote many of the songs that he recorded — a relative rarity among white singers of his day.
Clanton was born in Cut Off, LA on September 2, 1938. He reached his teen years just as R&B was starting to find an audience among younger whites. By the time he formed his first band, the Dixie Cats, in 1956, he was emulating the sounds of Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley, and his other influences included Johnny Ace. His rivals in those days included a young John Fred, more than a decade away from his chart-topping "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" and Johnny Ramistella, later known as Johnny Rivers and still eight years from his big break. Clanton joined forces with a rival bandleader, pianist Dick Holler (later the author of "Abraham, Martin and John"), in the Rockets, a combo that was hot enough to justify a 1957 trip to New Orleans and a visit to Cosimo Matassa, who owned the only recording studio in the city.
Matassa was taken with Clanton's easygoing charm and his way with a song — he sang R&B from the heart, and he had an outgoing, likable personality. Matassa signed both Clanton and Holler under his management, recorded each one fronting the Rockets, and then got them both recording deals with Mississippi-based Ace Records in September 1957.
At first, Clanton stood somewhat in the shadow of Huey "Piano" Smith, who was Ace's golden boy with "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie-Woogie Flu" under his belt and "Don't You Just Know It" waiting in the wings. Gradually, however, Clanton's "Just a Dream" began to gain airplay and sales, starting in the South and then building elsewhere. Eventually, the record reached number four on the Billboard Pop chart and topped the R&B charts in 1958, and suddenly Clanton was one of Ace's hottest properties. Appearances on American Bandstand followed, along with his first bookings outside of the South. There were engagements at the Hollywood Bowl and performances on Freed's package tours, which in turn led to Clanton's starring role in the second of Freed's two rock & roll films, Go Johnny Go, in which Clanton was seen performing "Ship on a Stormy Sea," "My Love Is Strong," and "It Takes a Long, Long Time." What's more, he held his own in a cast that included Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, Sandy Stewart, the Flamingos, the Cadillacs, Jo-Ann Campbell, Eddie Cochran, and Ritchie Valens.
Clanton's next release was a double A-side single: "Letter to an Angel" (which owed a lot in feel and content to Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love") and "A Part of Me," both of which charted, though not high. He reached number 33 with "My Own True Love," which was adapted from the main title music of Gone with the Wind — this was, ironically enough, Clanton's first single that he didn't write or co-write (usually with Matassa). It wasn't until 1960 that he again reached the Top Ten, with "Go Jimmy Go," written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, which hit number five. By that time, the teen idol boom was going full-force and Clanton was firmly cast in this role — he was a natural with his good looks and easygoing personality, and his music was reshaped from R&B to more of a softer White rock & roll vein. He still wrote an occasional song, but Clanton increasingly turned to outside writers, including Pomus and Shuman and Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield.
In early 1961, Clanton was drafted, and he spent the next two years in the U.S. Army. Ace did its best to keep his name in the public eye with a series of single releases. Those early-'60s singles, including his own "Don't Look at Me" and Dr. John's "Because I Do," were pretty powerful rockers, and marked something of a return to Clanton's original New Orleans-based sound, in the wake of his success with pop ballads.
His return to performing coincided with the release of his last major hit, "Venus in Blue Jeans," which peaked at number seven in mid-1962, maintaining his status as a mainstay of the Mississippi-based label. He had one further chart entry with "Darkest Street in Town," but that was the end of Clanton's run of hits. He continued performing even after Ace Records folded in the mid-'60s and later recorded for Phillips, Mala, Laurie, and Imperial, but the British Invasion heralded a shift in public taste that made it more difficult to get steady bookings.
Clanton became a disc jockey in the '70s and performed in an oldies revue of his own, and reportedly had a religious conversion in the '80s. He performed at oldies shows in the '90s with his one-time labelmate Frankie Ford, and his appearances at oldies shows continued during the first decade of the new millennium.
Title: I'm Always Chasing Rainbows (Remastered) - Single
Artist: Jimmy Clanton
Title: I Feel Those Tears Coming On (Remastered) - Single
Artist: Jimmy Clanton
Title: Just a Dream & Other Great Hits
Artist: Jimmy Clanton
Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll, Pop, Teen Pop
Title: Just a Dream - Single
Artist: Jimmy Clanton
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock, Rock & Roll, Pop, Teen Pop
Title: The Swamp Pop R&B Teenage Idol (Remastered) (CD1)
Artist: Jimmy Clanton
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Pop
Collections
Title: Oldies But Goodies
Genre: Pop
Title: The Party Rockin' Hits of 1960
Genre: Rock
Title: 100 Baladas Románticas / 100 Baladas Romanticas
Genre: Pop
Title: 50's Radio Hits & Jukebox Oldies
Genre: Rock
Title: Nights of Rock Around the Clock
Genre: Rock
Title: Great Rare Songs, Vol. 3
Genre: Rock
Title: Oldies Doo Wop, Vol. 5
Genre: Pop
Title: Pop Gold, Vol. 1
Genre: Pop
Title: The Top Rank Story 1959
Genre: Pop
Title: '50s & '60s Lost & Found Records, Vol. 1
Genre: Rock
Title: Pop of the 60s
Genre: Pop
Title: The Love Hits of 1958
Genre: Rock
Title: Top of the Chart & Doo Wop, Vol. 8
Genre: Rock
Title: 1958 Hit Songs, Vol. 2
Genre: Pop
Title: The 1960 British Hit Parade: The B Sides, Pt 2, Vol. 2
Genre: Pop
Title: Music We Grew up With, Vol. 1
Genre: Pop
Title: Rock's Very Best, Vol. 1
Genre: Rock
Title: The First Us Hot 100 August 1958, Vol. 1
Genre: Pop
Title: Wonderful World of the 50's - 100 Hit Songs
Genre: Rock
Title: Rare Songs Played on Radio, Vol. 2
Genre: Pop
Title: Rock N' Soul 1958
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 12
Genre: Pop
Title: Big Hits & Highlights of 1958, Vol. 6
Genre: Pop
Title: 20 Great Rock & Roll Hits of the 50s
Genre: Rock
Title: Greatest Big Hits of 1961, Vol. 30
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest R&B Hits of 1959, Vol. 4
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Pop
Title: 100 Timeless Love Songs (Re-Recorded Versions)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock
Title: The 50's - A Decade to Remember: Do You Wanna Dance
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock
Title: Jumps Giggles and Shouts
Genre:
Title: Collector's Doo Wop Classics, Vol. 5
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: A Mix of Hits, Vol. 1
Genre: Rock
Title: 150 Rock 'N' Roll Classics (Re-Recorded Versions)
Genre: Rock, Rock & Roll
Title: Classic Essential Hits, Vol. 13
Genre: Pop
Title: Rockin' and a Rollin'-20 Rock and Roll Classics
Genre: Rock
Title: The Rock & Roll Stars
Genre: Rock
Title: America's Greatest Hits 1960 Vol. 1
Genre: Pop
Title: Gli anni 50: il meglio (100 HIts)
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 5
Genre: Pop
Title: At the Malt Shop, Vol. 2
Genre:
Title: Doo Wop Classic Love Songs Vol 5
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Oldies Doo wops Vol 4
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: The Very Best Of Rock Vol 5
Genre: Rock
Title: Pop Megahits of the 1950's, Vol. 2 (Re-Recorded Version)
Genre: Pop
Title: American R'n'B No. 1 Hits, Vol. 6
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: The Greatest Hits Of 1958, Vol. 6
Genre: Pop
Title: The Best Ever Rock & Roll Revival
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock, Rock & Roll
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 20
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 4
Genre: Pop
Title: Greatest Big Hits of 1962, Vol. 15
Genre: Pop
Title: Pop Megahits of the 1960's, Vol. 6 (Re-Recorded Versions)
Genre: Pop
Title: 50's Dance Party - Vol .2
Title: Collector's Doo Wop Classics Vol 5
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: Collector's Doo Wop Classics Vol 5
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul
Title: 60's Pop Rocks
Title: Greatest Hits of 1960, Vol. 27
Genre: Pop
Featuring albums
Title: I Love the 50's: 1959 (Re-Recorded Versions)
Artist: Various Artists
Title: I Love the 50's: 1958 (Re-Recorded Versions)
Artist: Various Artists