Johnny Preston

Johnny Preston, who died on March 4 aged 71, had a chart-topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1960 with a pop oddity called Running Bear. 

 

Johnny Preston Photo: REDFERNS

 

The song had been written by Preston’s friend, the disc jockey and singer JP Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper. But Richardson thought the number was too gloomy and unsuitable for his own onstage persona.

When he offered it to Preston, his friend also had doubts: it was based on the Romeo and Juliet story but featured American Indians, and told of an ill-fated romance between Running Bear, an “Indian brave,” and Little White Dove, an “Indian maid”. The pair were from different, warring tribes and separated by a raging river, which eventually sealed their doom.

At the recording sessions at the Gold Star studios in Houston in 1958, Richardson joined the country singer George Jones in providing the “oog-a-chooga” background vocals, supplemented by assorted war-cries.

Despite Preston’s reservations, the record became a million-seller for him in 1959, after Richardson died in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. It topped the British charts in March 1960, and earned him a gold disc.

Preston’s follow-up single, Cradle of Love, with its nursery rhyme lyrics, then reached number two in Britain and number seven in the American Billboard chart.

John Preston Courville was born on August 18 1939 at Port Arthur, Texas, to parents of Cajun ancestry. He sang in choral competitions in high school, and at Lamar University, Beaumont, and performed in a rock and roll group called The Shades. In 1957 JP Richardson saw them perform and recommended them to Mercury Records.
On the strength of Running Bear and Cradle of Love, Preston toured Britain in 1960, heading an all-star rock and roll bill with Conway Twitty, Wee Willie Harris and Freddie Cannon. But his hit-making recording career was short-lived. A third single, Feel So Fine, made the Top 20 but his strongest follow-up, a revival of Little Willie John’s Leave My Kitten Alone, failed to make the charts.
“I slowly slipped by the wayside,” Preston reflected, adding that he had bought a ranch with the proceeds of Running Bear alone. In later life he appeared on golden oldie tours, and in 1997 sang the Indian chant for a version of Running Bear recorded by The Big Bopper Jr.
Johnny Preston is survived by his wife, Sharon, their two sons and two daughters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8433137/Johnny-Preston.html