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Johnny Horton music biography continued...

in Tyler, Texas, Horton worked in the fishing industry in Alaska and California before deciding on a recording career. He released some albums with the Abbott, Mercury, and Dot labels with little success. In September 1953 Horton married Billie Jean Jones, the widow of country music legend Hank Williams. He started to sing country songs and signed a recording contract with Columbia, where he would achieve his greatest success. Some of his first hits included Honky Tonk Man and I'm A One-Woman Man in 1956, Coming Home in 1957 and All Grown Up in 1958. He topped the country charts in 1959 with When It's Springtime In Alaska, earning him acceptance by the country music establishment.



At the close of the decade, Horton also began to record a series of historical saga songs that crossed over to the pop charts. He covered Jimmy Driftwood's The Battle Of New Orleans in 1959. The song topped the country charts and it reached number one on the pop charts, where it remained for a solid six weeks. The song was a tribute to the final battle of the War of 1812. He also recorded Sink The Bismarck in 1960, a song that was suggested by the film of the same title; it went top ten country and pop. Horton's next effort was thee title song for the John Wayne movie North To Alaska and it too made the top ten in both charts during the same year, bringing Horton to precipice of superstardom. Tragically, on November 5, 1960, while North To Alaska was still climbing the charts, Horton was killed in an automobile accident in Milano, Texas following a performance in Austin. Horton's music, however, lives on in the numerous re-releases of the hit songs that had been embraced by so many.