From:   "Dik de Heer"
Date:  Sat Aug 10, 2002  2:03 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jimmy Dean
 
JIMMY DEAN

Born Jimmy Ray Dean, 10 August 1928, Plainview, Texas

Vocalist / pianist / guitarist / composer.
Born into poverty on a farm in Texas, Jimmy Dean was raised by his mother
who started him on a musical path when she taught him to play piano at age 10.
He went on to learn the guitar, harmonica and accordion.
After leaving the Air Force in 1948, he put together a band, the Texas Wildcats,

who became a sensation on station WARL in Arlington, VA. He soon was
broadcasting ten hours a week. In 1952, Jimmy toured the U.S. bases in the
Caribbean, and that same year recorded his first single for Four-Star Records,
"Bumming Around", which soared to No. 5 on the country charts the following
year. But by then, television was the medium to be in, and Dean landed a spot
on the "Town and Country Time" show broadcast on Washington ABC affiliate
WMAL-TV. The three-hour show was broadcast every Saturday from the Capital
Arena in Washington. Dean was hired away from ABC by Washington's CBS
affiliate to host a live country show, and in 1957, he moved to New York to do
a CBS national live morning country show.
While CBS kept him busy with two live telecasts a day, Dean pursued a recording
career. He signed with Columbia Records in 1957 and had two minor pop hits that
year, produced by Mitch Miller. It was a long dry spell from there until he
broke
through with "Big Bad John" in 1961. Like many of Don Law's early '60s
productions
for Johnny Horton, Claude King, Marty Robbins and others, "Big Bad John" found
the magic land where pop and country meet, and it rose to # 1 on both charts
(also # 2 in the UK). He followed this up with the narration "Dear Ivan" and
returned
to the Top 10 with "P.T. 109", an account of John F. Kennedy's wartime heroism.
Other successes in 1962 were "The Cajun Queen", "Steel Men" and "Little Black
Book".
The following year, Dean returned to ABC with "The Jimmy Dean Show", which
aired Thursday nights from 1963 to 1966. Next Dean tried his hand at acting with

a guest role on an episode of the hit TV series "Daniel Boone". The appearance
struck a chord with viewers and won him a regular role from 1967 to 1970 as Josh
Clements, Boone's friend. Other acting roles followed, and in 1971 Dean made his

feature film debut in the James Bond classic "Diamonds are Forever".
Meanwhile, his TV and music careers continued to flourish. In 1966 he switched
to
RCA Records, where he scored several middling country hits, but he didn't see
another smash (# 9 country, # 35 pop) until he finally persuaded Casino Records
in 1976 to take a chance on "I.O.U.", a cloying tribute to his mother that he
had
wanted to record since his Mitch Miller days.
Dean's business ventures had started in 1965 after he bought out a failing hog
farm.
With his brother Don he started marketing his own country breakfast sausage in
1969 and then became one of the largest grossing pork marketers in the country.
He sold out to Sara Lee in 1984, but stayed on as chairman of the board of Jimmy
Dean Meat Co. To the average US citizen, he is better known for his sausage and
meat commercials than for his music.

CD recommendation: Big Bad John (Bear Family 15723). Columbia recordings
1961-62.
His website (http://www.jimmydean.com) has more info on his food products than
on his music.