Friday, June 12, 2009

൬ JOHNNY TILLOTSON, Dreamy Eyes|Well I'm Your Man|Why Do I Love U..|Poetry In Motion|It Keeps Right..|Talk Back..|Judy Judy Judy|U Can Never Stop..|

Johnny Tillotson (born April 20, 1939, Jacksonville, Florida; raised in Palatka) is an American singer and songwriter. Tillotson enjoyed his greatest success in the early 1960s when he scored a series of Top Ten hits including "Poetry in Motion" and the self-penned "It Keeps Right on a-Hurtin'." In total, he placed 30 singles and albums in the Billboard charts between 1958 and 1984, most of them in the popchart, though he also reached the country, R&B, and easy listening charts. He was the son of Jack Tillotson, a country music disc jockey, and Doris Tillotson. He got his first exposure as a singer on his father's radio station while he was still a child.



His primary interest was country music, although he was inspired when he saw Elvis Presley perform in Jacksonville on May 13, 1955, just after he had turned 14. While still in high school, Tillotson was making records and performing on stage; as a student at the University of Florida, he had his own musical variety show on regional television. Following graduation in 1959 with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Communications, he signed with Cadence Records and moved to New York City to pursue his music career.



Cadence's owner Archie Bleyer issued Tillotson's first single in September 1958, combining two of the singer's own compositions, the ballad "Dreamy Eyes" and the up-tempo "Well I'm Your Man." "Well I'm Your Man" charted first, peaking at number 87 in the Billboard Hot 100 in October, but "Dreamy Eyes" followed, topping out at number 63 in January 1959.



The next release was in August 1959; "True True Happiness," petered out at number 54 in September, and "Why Do I Love You So," followed in December and reached number 42 in February 1960. Next, Bleyer tried having Tillotson cover a couple of old R&B hits, combining The Penguins' "Earth Angel" and Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love" but both peaked in the bottom half of the Hot 100 in May.



In 1960, he recorded his first big hit, a composition entitled "Poetry in Motion" (written by Anthony/Kaufman), that went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. And #1 on the UK Singles Chart.



A "crossover" artist, several of Tillotson's songs were successful on both the country music charts and pop charts. He earned a Grammy Award nomination for another of his own compositions, "It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin," which was a U.S. #3 hit, and also for the cover of the song "Heartaches by the Number," nominated for Best Vocal Performance of 1965.



He also appeared in the 1963 film Just for Fun and sang the theme song for the 1965 Sally Field television comedy Gidget. He had his last Top 10 U.S. Hit in 1964 with "Talk Back Trembling Lips", which reached #7, just prior to the British invasion which curtailed Tillotson's major hit making days. He was featured in the 1966 camp comedy The Fat Spy starringJayne Mansfield, Jack E. Leonard, Phyllis Diller and Brian Donlevy. This film was featured in the 2004 documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (#46).



In 1996, he estimated that he was performing 230 days a year. He continued to tour into the 21st century, launching his own website, and sold new CDs such as Love Songs andStandards, the archival collection The Early Years, and The Golden Hits. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Tillotson has recorded 26 singles that made it onto Billboard's charts, and performed at venues across the United States and other places around the globe. [wikipedia]

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