Pat Boone

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Pat Boone
Image:Pat Boone GOE II 5-27-07 071.jpg
Background information
Birth name Charles Eugene Patrick Boone
Also known as Pat Boone
Born June 1 1934 (1934-06-01) (age 74) Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Origin Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Genre(s) R&B, Ballads, Blues
Occupation(s) musician, songwriter, actor, motivational speaker, spokesman
Instrument(s) Singing
Years active 1954 - present
Label(s) Republic Records, Hip-O Records, The Gold Label, Oak Records, Eclipse Music Group, MCA
Website http://www.patboone.com

Charles Eugene Patrick "Pat" Boone (born June 1 1934) is an American singer whose smooth style made him a popular performer of the 1950s. His cover versions of African-American rhythm and blues hits had a noticeable impact on the development of the broad popularity of rock and roll. He is also an actor, a motivational speaker, a television personality, and a conservative political commentator.

Contents

[edit] Biography and career

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Pat Boone has said that he is a direct descendant of the American pioneer Daniel Boone.[1] He grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, attended David Lipscomb College and began recording in 1954 for Republic Records. His 1955 version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a huge hit. This set the stage for the early part of Boone's career, which focused on covering R&B songs by black artists for a white market.

Six of Boone's hit singles were R&B covers. These were "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino and "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard, and "At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" by the El Dorados. The other two R&B covers were blues ballads, "I Almost Lost My Mind" by Ivory Joe Hunter and "Chains of Love", a hit for Big Joe Turner and later B.B. King that had been written by Ahmet Ertegün. By 1957, Boone was concentrating on middle-of-the-road music. Although he would continue to record R&B songs (such as "Two Little Kisses," a non-alcoholic version of "One Mint Julep"),and (his version of The Capris' song, "There's a Moon Out Tonight" as cover versions.

Image:Pat.JPG
The handprints of Pat Boone in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Boone sported a clean-cut image that appealed to white Americans. His singing style followed in the tradition of his idol, Bing Crosby. Preferring to carry on in the Crosby tradition, he soon began turning more and more to ballads. Some of his biggest hits included "Love Letters in the Sand" (with the instrumental break featuring Boone's whistling), "April Love", "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)", and "Don't Forbid Me".

His recording of the theme song from the 1957 film April Love topped the charts for six weeks and was nominated for an Academy Award. Pat also wrote the lyrics for the instrumental theme song for the movie Exodus (Ernest Gold wrote the music.)[2]

A devout born-again Christian, he was raised in the conservative Church of Christ, but has been a member of a Pentecostal church since the late 1960s. Boone has refused both songs and movie roles that he felt might compromise his standards, including a role opposite the decade's reigning sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe. In his first film, April Love, he refused to give co-star/film love interest Shirley Jones an onscreen kiss, because the actress was married in real life.

Among his other achievements, he hosted a TV series in the late 1950s and began writing in the early 1960s, a series of self-help books for adolescents, including Twixt Twelve and Twenty.

The British Invasion ended Boone's career as a hitmaker, though he continued recording throughout the 1960s. In the 1970s, he switched to gospel and country, and he continued performing in other media as well. He is currently working as the disc jockey of a popular oldies radio show and runs his own record company which provides an outlet for new recordings by 1950s greats who can no longer find a place with the major labels.

Boone married Shirley Lee Foley, daughter of country music great Red Foley and singer Judy Martin, in 1953 and they had four daughters: Cherry, Lindy, Debby, and Laury. In the 1960s and 1970s the Boone family toured as gospel singers and made gospel albums, such as The Pat Boone Family and The Family Who Prays.

In 1978, Boone was the first target in the Federal Trade Commission's crackdown on false claim product endorsements by celebrities. He had appeared with daughter Debbie on TV to claim that all four of his daughters had found a preparation named Acne-Statin a "real help" in keeping their skins clear. The FTC filed a complaint against the manufacturer, contending that the product did not really keep skin free of blemishes. Boone eventually signed a consent order in which he promised not only to stop appearing in the ads but to pay about 2.5% of any money that the FTC or the courts might eventually order the manufacturer to refund to consumers. Boone said through a lawyer that his daughters actually did use Acne-Statin, and that he was "dismayed to learn that the product's efficacy had not been scientifically established as he believed."[3]

In 1997, Boone released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, a collection of heavy metal cover. To promote the album, he appeared at the American Music Awards in black leather, shocking audiences and losing his respectability among his largest constituency, conservative Christians.

He was then fired from Gospel America, a TV show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. About a year later, the controversy died down and many fans, including Jack Hayford, accepted his explanation of the leather outfit being a "parody of himself". He was re-hired by Trinity Broadcasting and Gospel America was brought back.

In 2003, the Gospel Music Association of Nashville, Tennessee recognized his gospel recording work by inducting him into its Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In September 2006, Boone released Pat Boone R&B Classics - We Are Family, featuring cover versions of 11 R&B hits, including the title track, plus "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "Soul Man," "Get Down Tonight," "A Woman Needs Love," and six other classics.

In 2007 Pat Boone was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

Boone and his wife live in Los Angeles, California. They are members of The Church on the Way in the San Fernando Valley. His one-time neighbor was Ozzy Osbourne and his family. Boone's cover of Osbourne's song "Crazy Train" became the theme song for The Osbournes. (It appears on The Osbournes Soundtrack.) Sharon Osbourne once said that Boone "never complained once" about living next door to their less-than-traditional family.

In 2006, Boone penned an article for WorldNetDaily in which he argued that Democrats and others who are against the Iraq War cannot, under any circumstances, be considered patriotic.[4] He was interviewed by Neil Cavuto on Fox News, where he expressed his outrage against the opponents of George W. Bush (namely the Dixie Chicks) that their criticisms of the President showed they did not "respect their elders".[5] However, another article defended Mel Gibson after the actor was recorded making an anti-Semitic rant.[6]

In early 2007, Boone wrote two articles claiming that the theory of evolution is an "absurd," "nonsensical" "bankrupt false religion." [7][8] He later wrote an editorial in the form of a fairy tale where a young Prince Charming was seduced by a dwarf, got AIDS, and then overdosed.[9]

In the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Pat Boone campaigned for incumbent Republican Ernie Fletcher with a prerecorded automated telephone message stating that the Democratic Party candidate Steve Beshear would support "every homosexual cause." "Now do you want a governor who'd like Kentucky to be another San Francisco?" Boone asked.[10]

[edit] As Chevrolet spokesman

Pat Boone's well-groomed, clean-cut, boyish image won him a long-term product endorsement contract from General Motors during the late 1950s, lasting through the 60s.

Boone succeeded Dinah Shore singing the praises of the GM product: "See the USA in your Chevrolet...drive your Chevrolet through the USA, America's the greatest land of all!" In the 1989 documentary Roger and Me, Boone stated that he first was given a Corvette from the Chevrolet product line, but after he and wife started having children, at one child a year, GM supplied him with a station wagon as well.

Boone, who has endorsed an indeterminate number of products and services over the course of his career, said that more people identified him with Chevrolet than any other product.

[edit] Basketball interests

Boone was a basketball fan and had ownership interests in two teams. He owned a team in the Hollywood Studio League called the "Cooga Moogas." The Cooga Moogas included Bill Cosby, Rafer Johnson, Gardner McKay, Don Murray, and Denny "Tarzan" Miller.[11]

With the founding of the American Basketball Association Boone on February 2 1967 became the majority owner of the league's team in Oakland, California.[11] The team was first named the Oakland Americans but was later renamed as the Oakland Oaks, the name under which it played from 1967 to 1969.[11] The Oaks won the 1969 ABA championship.[12]

Despite the Oaks' success on the court, the team had severe financial problems. One reason was that the Oaks were the only team in the ABA playing in a market with direct local competition from an NBA team, the Golden State Warriors. By August 1969 the Bank of America was threatening to foreclose on a $1.2 million loan to the Oaks,[13] and the team was sold to a group of businessmen in Washington, DC and became the Washington Caps.[14]

[edit] Discography

  • 1955: "Two Hearts, Two Kisses" (#16); "Ain't That a Shame" (#1); "At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" (#7); "No Arms Can Ever Hold You" (#26)
  • 1956: "Gee Whittakers!" (#19); "I'll Be Home" (#4); "Tutti Frutti" (#12); "Just As Long As I'm With You" (#76); "Long Tall Sally" (#8); "I Almost Lost My Mind" (#1); "Friendly Persuasion" (#5); "Chains of Love" (#20); "Howdy!"(#14)
  • 1957: "Don't Forbid Me" (#1); "Anastasia" (#37); "Why Baby Why" (#5); "I'm Waiting Just For You" (#27); "Love Letters In The Sand" (#1); "Bernadine" (#14); "A Closer Walk With Thee" (#13); "Remember You're Mine" (#6); "There's A Gold Mine In The Sky" (#20); "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano" (#90); "April Love" (#1); Albums: Pat (#19); Four By Pat (#5); Pat Boone (#20); Pat's Great Hits (#3); Hymns We Love(#21); April Love (soundtrack) (#12)
  • 1958: "A Wonderful Time Up There" (#4); "It's Too Soon To Know" (#11); "Cherie, I Love You" (#63); "Sugar Moon" (#5); "If Dreams Came True" (#7); "That's How Much I Love You" (#39); "Stardust" (#2); "For My Good Fortune" (#21); "Gee But It's Lonely" (#31); "Yes Indeed!" (#13); "I'll Remember Tonight" (#34)
  • 1959: "With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair" (#21); "Good Rockin' Tonight" (#49); "For A Penny" (#23); "The Wang Dang Taffy-Apple Tango" (#62); "Twixt Twelve And Twenty" (#17); "Fools Hall Of Fame" (#29); "Beyond The Sunset" (#71); Album: Tenderly (#17)
  • 1960: "(Welcome) New Lovers" (#18); "Words" (#94); "Walking The Floor Over You" (#44); "Spring Rain" (#50); "Moonglow" (#26); "Candy Sweet" (#72); "Delia Gone" (#66); "Dear John" (#44); "Alabam" (#47)
  • 1961: "The Exodus Song (This Land Is Mine)" (#64); "Moody River" (#1); "Big Cold Wind" (#19); Albums: Moody River (#29); White Christmas (#39)
  • 1962: "Johnny Will" (#35); "Pictures In The Fire" (#77); "I'll See You In My Dreams" (#32); "Quando Quando Quando" (#95); "Speedy Gonzales" (#6); "Ten Lonely Guys" (#45); "White Christmas" (#116); Albums: Pat Boone's Golden Hits (#66); State Fair (soundtrack) (#12);
  • 1963: Albums: Pat Boone Sings Guess Who; The Touch of Your Lips; Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
  • 1972: Albums: Come Together: A Musical Experience in Love
  • 1973: Albums: Songs for the Jesus Folks
  • 1976: Albums: Texas Woman
  • 1981: Albums: Songmaker
  • 1997: Albums: In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy
  • 2002: Albums: American Glory
  • 2006: Albums: Pat Boone R&B Classics - We Are Family

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Woodland, Shannon and Ross, Scott. BETWEEN THE LINER NOTES: Pat Boone and the New American Revolution. Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
  2. ^ Soundtracks for Exodus (1960). imdb.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
  3. ^ Let the Stellar Seller Beware. Time (1978-05-22). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
  4. ^ Boone, Pat (2006-03-25). As a matter of fact, sir, I do question your patriotism!. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  5. ^ Pat Boone rips Dixie Chicks for Bush bash. WorldNetDaily.com (2006-05-22). Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  6. ^ Boone, Pat (2006-08-05). Lay off Mel Gibson, for Christ's sake!. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  7. ^ Boone, Pat (2007-02-03). Poor Darwin's false religion. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  8. ^ Boone, Pat (2007-01-27). Charles Darwin's unfunny joke. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  9. ^ Boone, Pat (2007-09-22). A modern American fairy tale. WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  10. ^ Kleefeld, Eric (2007-11-04). Kentucky GOP Pushing Anti-Gay Message In Final Days Of Gov Race. TPM Election Central. TPM Media LLC.. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
  11. ^ a b c Oakland Oaks. Remember the ABA. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  12. ^ 1968-69 ABA Regular Season Standings. Remember the ABA. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  13. ^ Oakland Oaks/Washington Caps/Virginia Squires Year-to-Year Franchise Notes. Remember the ABA. Archived from the original on 2007-06-14. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
  14. ^ Oakland Oaks/Washington Caps/Virginia Squires Year-to-Year Rosters. Remember the ABA. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Boone, Pat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 1 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Jacksonville, Florida
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
de:Pat Boone

fr:Pat Boone id:Pat Boone it:Pat Boone nl:Pat Boone ja:パット・ブーン pt:Pat Boone fi:Pat Boone sv:Pat Boone

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