Johnny Western was born on October 28,1934 and is an American country singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and radio show host.
18 Facts About Johnny Western
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Johnny Western is a member of the Western Music Association Hall of Fame and the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame.
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Johnny Western was born Johnny Westerlund in Two Harbors in Lake County in northeastern Minnesota but was primarily reared in Northfield in south central Minnesota.
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Johnny Western's father was an instructor and officer in several Civilian Conservation Corps camps, where Western spent some his earlier years.
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Johnny Western got a job on radio at the age of thirteen, a feat publicized in Billboard as the youngest disc jockey and singer on American radio.
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At age sixteen, Johnny Western began performing with the Sons of the Pioneers.
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Johnny Western made his first professional recordings in the summer of 1952 in the studio of WCAL Radio station of St Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota.
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Between August 1958 and May 1963, Johnny Western recorded seven singles and one album for Columbia, until he was dropped from their roster.
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Johnny Western then signed a contract with the Philips label, but only one single resulted.
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Apart from the House of Cash recordings, it contained some unreleased songs Johnny Western had recorded for the Hep label.
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Johnny Western's scarce recording output notwithstanding, Johnny Western remained a consistent performer for over sixty years and so his name was never lost on the general public.
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Johnny Western performed with Gene Autry and was a part of the Johnny Cash road show from 1958 until 1997.
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In October 2013, Johnny Western announced that he would stop touring and giving concerts.
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Johnny Western has appeared in several television programs, including the westerns, Have Gun - Will Travel, Tales of Wells Fargo, Pony Express, and Boots and Saddles.
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Johnny Western has had roles in several movies including The Night Rider, Fort Bowie, and The Dalton Girls.
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In February 1986, Johnny Western returned to radio with a daily country music show on KFDI a country music station calling itself "The Radio Ranch" in Wichita, Kansas.
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In early April 2010, Johnny Western announced that he would retire from broadcasting.
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Johnny Western was never able to perform in his namesake theater, which now sits among the ruins of the Wild West World amusement park, just outside Wichita, Kansas.