I do agree. I just had that voice — that way about me. You mentioned that you went out on bus tours, which went out all over America and Canada. You did some with Dick Clark on his Caravan of Stars tours and others, as well. We read that on these tours you became friendly with a number of well-known artists including Bobby Darin and Jimmy Beaumont of The Skyliners?
Do you have any memories of touring with these artists? I knew Elvis. I knew lots of people. But to answer your question, yes, I was friends with them — Bobby Darin and I were together on the bus tours. We were friends. We hung out together. And Jimmy Beaumont and I definitely were good friends. We hung out together, too. And so, you know, there were certain people who I hung out with — certain ones who I became good friends with when we toured together.
The connection is, first, I knew all of those guys. And I also knew Ritchie Valens; I had done shows with him. And, in , I was out on a bus tour. It was the stage manager from our show, and he had a very somber look on his face. Of course, I was stunned. But then he told me something incredible.
So I agreed I would leave the tour that I was on and I would fly up there and I would pick up the tour that they were on. That must have been really difficult to do. It was incredibly hard to do. You mentioned earlier that you became friends with the iconic DJ, Alan Freed. Evidently, backstage at a theater one time, he told you that he was going to Hollywood to produce a rock and roll movie which would feature artists like Chuck Berry, Jackie Wilson, and others.
What else did he tell you about his plans for this film? The way that started is very simple: Backstage, he happened to pass me, and very matter of factly, he explained to me that he was going to Hollywood.
He told me about this movie he was going to do and he told me a little about the story line. And that movie, Go, Johnny, Go! Can you tell us more about that? Oh my gosh, yeah; this is very poignant. It was enlarged, and I even put in central air conditioning, all thanks to that first royalty check. You were a good son to do that for your mom, and you were rewarded for it, too, because you were soon asked to appear in another movie, Teenage Millionaire.
But, then, at the height of your fame, you went into the Army. Is it true, however, that while you were in the service, your officers somehow managed to get you to entertain your superiors? Well, what happened was, in no time at all, word got out throughout the ranks where I was stationed — this first happened at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where I did my first 16 weeks of training. The company commander called me in and told me about a party he was planning for all the officers.
He knew who I was and he told me that he had a little band that had worked with him before, but asked if I would do a show with them. Can we work it out? However, how am I gonna be compensated for this? So that worked out. Appearances on American Bandstand followed, along with his first bookings outside of the South. Clanton 's next release was a double A-side single: "Letter to an Angel" which owed a lot in feel and content to Johnny Ace 's "Pledging My Love" and "A Part of Me," both of which charted, though not high.
He reached number 33 with "My Own True Love," which was adapted from the main title music of Gone with the Wind -- this was, ironically enough, Clanton 's first single that he didn't write or co-write usually with Matassa.
He still wrote an occasional song, but Clanton increasingly turned to outside writers, including Pomus and Shuman and Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield. In early , Clanton was drafted, and he spent the next two years in the U.
Ace did its best to keep his name in the public eye with a series of single releases. Those early-'60s singles, including his own "Don't Look at Me" and Dr. John 's "Because I Do," were pretty powerful rockers, and marked something of a return to Clanton 's original New Orleans-based sound, in the wake of his success with pop ballads.
His return to performing coincided with the release of his last major hit, "Venus in Blue Jeans," which peaked at number seven in mid, maintaining his status as a mainstay of the Mississippi-based label. He had one further chart entry with "Darkest Street in Town," but that was the end of Clanton 's run of hits. He continued performing even after Ace Records folded in the mid-'60s and later recorded for Phillips, Mala, Laurie, and Imperial, but the British Invasion heralded a shift in public taste that made it more difficult to get steady bookings.
Clanton became a disc jockey in the '70s and performed in an oldies revue of his own, and reportedly had a religious conversion in the '80s. It was such a great feeling. But after the Rockets recorded every song Holler knew, with a few minutes of studio time left, Matassa asked if they had anything else. In spring , Vincent phoned Clanton again, asking if the singer had written more original songs.
Alan Freed paid me very well and never asked for any money back under the table. Drafted into the U. Clanton continued performing for some years before leaving music again. Elton John, the Eagles, Jackson Browne, on and on. Inspired by John Osteen, the late founder and pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Clanton spent to as a traveling minister. By , he was back in music, again at the request of Nader.
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