Johnny and the Hurricanes
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Johnny and the Hurricanes began in 1957 as The Orbits in Toledo, Ohio. Led by saxophonist Johnny Paris (born John Pocisk, 1940, Walbridge, Ohio - died 1 May 2006, Ann Arbor, Michigan), they were a group of school friends who played on a few recordings behind Mack Vickery, a local rockabilly singer.
They signed up with Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik of Twirl Records. This led to national engagements and in 1959, now called Johnny and the Hurricanes, they released "Crossfire". This had been recorded in a disused cinema (to provide echo), and was a national hit, reaching No 23 in the U.S. chart in the summer of 1959.
Johnny and the Hurricanes - "Red River Rock"
The follow up was "Red River Rock", an instrumental version of "Red River Valley" on Warwick Records, featuring Paul Tesluk on hammond organ, which was a Top Ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic (No 5 in the U.S., No 3 in the UK) and sold over a million copies. The other members of the band at that time were Dave Yorko (guitar), Butch Mattice (bass) and Bill "Little Bo" Savich (drums).
The group continued to re-work old tunes with a rock and roll beat, possibly in an attempt to save on royalty payments (the tunes were credited to 'King, Mack' and usually one other name). In 1960 the United States Army bugle call "Reveille" became "Reveille Rock", while "Blue Tail Fly" was turned into "Beatnik Fly" - both tunes made the Top 40. For "Down Yonder" they switched to Big Top Records. Still in 1960 "When The Saints Go Marching In" became "Revival" but only managed one week in the charts, peaking at No 97. That track fared better in the UK as the B-side of "Rocking Goose" which reached No 3 in their chart.
The band meanwhile developed a strong following in Europe. In 1962, they played a show at the Star-Club in Hamburg where a little known British group called The Beatles was a support act. Johnny and the Hurricanes continued to record until 1965. Paris moved out of the music industry as a full-time occupation, selling both antiques and vending machines in Toledo.
Although he was by then the only original member of the Hurricanes remaining (he later claimed to be able to recall over 300 musicians who had at one time or another been in the band), they toured Europe from time to time with an ever-changing line-up, until shortly before his death in 2006.
The band inspired the song "Johnny and the Hurricanes" on the album How I Learned to Love the Bootboys by the band The Auteurs.
