Johnny Duncan (country music artist)
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- This article is about Johnny Duncan the country music artist. For the blue grass artist see: Johnny Duncan.
Johnny Richard Duncan (October 5, 1938 – August 14, 2006) was an American country singer.
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[edit] Biography
Duncan was born in Dublin, Texas. Before he went to Nashville, Tennessee, Duncan attended TCU (Texas Christian University) in Fort Worth, Texas. He then spent a few years in Clovis, New Mexico. He was a cousin of Dan Seals, who was also a major country performer.
[edit] Early Life and Influences
Duncan’s early life was steeped in West Texas music. He picked this up naturally as a boy listening to his mother play rhythm guitar in his uncle’s country band. Later, he began sharpening his vocal skills, influenced by his early idols Eddy Arnold, Perry Como, Jim Reeves, and Frank Sinatra. Johnny was born into a musical family. He is very proud of his talented and famous cousins, including Eddie Seals, Jimmy Seals of Seals & Croft, and country singer Dan Seals. "He knew when he was 12 years old that playing music and singing songs was going to be his life," said his wife, Connie Duncan, 54. [1]
"He grew up here in a small country town and loved music," Jim Harrell said. "His mother played herself and a lot of his cousins played with him." (Jim Harrell, owner and funeral director of Harrell Funeral Home in Dublin, which is handling arrangements for his services) His cousins became famous as well – Jimmy Seals of Seals & Crofts and country singer Dan Seals. [2]
After playing and singing with his musically-gifted family for a few years, he decided to move where the bigger action was—Nashville, Tennessee. The dream began…
That dream became a reality when Marijohn Wilkin helped develope his writing career leading to many of his songs being recorded by popular singers such as Charley Pride, Marty Robbins, Chet Atkins, Conway Twitty and Jim Ed Brown.
[edit] Career
In Franklin, Tennessee, Duncan worked as a DJ and performed on local morning TV shows. He began to record for Columbia Records in the late 1960s.
Between 1967 and 1973, Duncan's recordings never reached the top 20 until Sweet Country Woman entered at number six.
Duncan performed duets with Janie Fricke in the 1970s, many of which were highly successful. Their songs "Stranger" and "Thinking of a Rendevous" (both 1976); "It Couldn't Have Been Any Better" (1977); and "Come A Little Bit Closer" (1978, a remake of the song first made popular by Jay and the Americans) were the most successful. In fact, "Thinking of a Rendevous" and "It Couldn't Have Been Any Better" both went No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart, as did Duncan's solo 1978 single "She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed Anytime."
Duncan's string of Top 10 hits continued into 1979 - most notably a cover of Johnny Rivers' "Swayin' to the Music" (released by Duncan as "Slow Dancing") and "The Lady in the Blue Mercedes" - and he even enjoyed another Top 20 hit with Fricke in 1980 with "She's Out of My Life." His star power faded in the early 1980s with changing musical tastes, although his biggest songs were popular country radio recurrents through the late 1980s and early 1990s.
[edit] Death
Duncan died of a heart attack on August 14, 2006, at the age of 67.
[edit] Family
Duncan has three daughters with his first wife, Betty Deisher [3] and one son with wife Connie Duncan, who survives him.
[edit] Discography
- 1973 Sweet Country Woman (Columbia 45818);
- 1976 Thinkin' Of A Rendezvous (Columbia 10417);
- 1976 The Best of Johnny Duncan (Columbia);
- 1977 It Couldn't Have Been Any Better (Columbia 10474); Come A Little Bit Closer (Columbia 10634);
- 1978 She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed, Anytime (Columbia 10694);
- 1989 Greatest Hits (CBS, Columbia);
- 1998 Pure Country (Sony Special Products);
- 1998 Classic Country (Simitar);
- 2002 From Tennessee to Taree (Rollercoaster);
- 2003 It Couldn't Have Been Any Better (Collector's Choice Music).
