From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Aug 18, 2002  2:00 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Johnny Preston

JOHHNY PRESTON

Born John Preston Courville, 18 August 1939, Port Arthur, Texas

Johnny Preston's family background was a mixture of Cajun French,
German and Anglo American. After finishing high school he went on
to Lamar State College in Beaumont where he formed his first band
The Shades, which became popular in southern Texas. J.P. Richardson
(The Big Bopper) heard the Shades in a nightclub and invited them to
record. Richardson wrote a song called "Running Bear" especially for
Johnny and it was recorded at the Gold Star Studios in Houston in
late 1958. The Big Bopper can be heard on the record doing the Indian
chants in the background, together with George Jones and producer Bill
Hall. Before the disc was even released, The Big Bopper was killed in
the plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and Ritchie
Valens. When "Running Bear" was finally issued in August 1959, it
looked like only a minor hit, entering the charts in October, but dropping
off after five weeks. Then it broke widely in December, hitting # 1 and
remaining in the Top 40 for 14 weeks. In the UK it also hit the top spot.

All Johnny's post-Running Bear sessions for Mercury were held in
Nashville, using the city's top session men. The follow-up was a song
written by Jack Fautheree and Wayne Gray called "Cradle Of Love", which
also went Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic. With these hits to his credit,
Johnny made his first of many visits to England in 1960 on a package show
with Conway Twitty and Freddy Cannon.
For this third single, Preston went back to a number he had performed with
the Shades, "Feel So Fine", which had originally been recorded by Shirley
and Lee in 1956 as "Feel So Good". Peaking at # 14, it was his last big hit.
A cover of Little Willie John's "Leave My Kitten Alone" went to # 73 in 1961
and that same year, "Free Me" (# 97), was his last chart entry. After his
Mercury contract ran out, Preston went on to record for Imperial, Hallway
and Kapp. He tried very hard to escape the tag of "novelty artist", but in an
attempt to broaden his appeal, Preston possibly tried to cover too many
bases, making him hard to classify.
Johnny Preston still lives in Texas and is still performing, both on the US
nostalgia circuit and on regular European tours.

More info: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/JohnnyPreston.html
The first Bear Family CD overview (Running Bear, BCD 15473, from 1989)
is now deleted. "Charming Billy : The Stereo Recordings" (Bear Family
BCD 16234) came out in 1998 and has 34 tracks, but not "Running Bear".