Johnny
Tillotson (born
April 20, 1938 in Jacksonville, Florida, United
States) is an American singer-songwriter. He enjoyed his greatest success
in the early 1960s, when he scored nine top-ten hits on the pop,
country, and adult contemporary Billboard charts, including "Poetry in Motion" and the self-penned "It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin'". He also sang "Yellow Bird", an
adaptation of the Haitian song. Johnny is the son of Doris and Jack Tillotson,
who owned a small service station on the corner of 6th and Pearl in
Jacksonville, and acted as the station's mechanic. At the age of nine, Johnny
was sent to Palatka,
Florida, to take care of his grandmother. He returned to Jacksonville each summer
to be with his parents when his brother Dan would go to his grandmother. Johnny
began to perform at local functions as a child, and by the time he was at
Palatka Senior High School he had developed a reputation as a talented singer. Tillotson became a
semi-regular on TV-4's McDuff Hayride, hosted by Toby Dowdy, and
soon landed his own show on TV-12 WFGA-TV. In 1957, while Tillotson
was studying at the University of Florida, local disc jockey Bob Norris
sent a tape of Johnny's singing to the Pet Milk talent contest, and was chosen
as one of six National finalists. This gave Johnny the opportunity to perform
in Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM the Grand Ole Opry, which led Lee
Rosenberg, a Nashville publisher, to take a tape to Archie Bleyer, owner
of the independent Cadence Records. Bleyer signed Tillotson to a three-year contract, and issued his
first single, "Dreamy Eyes" / "Well I'm Your Man" in
September 1958. Both songs were written by Tillotson, and both made the Billboard Hot
100, "Dreamy Eyes" peaking at # 63. After graduating in 1959 with
a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Communications, Tillotson moved
to New York City to pursue his music career. From late 1959, a succession of singles – "True True Happiness,"
"Why Do I Love You So," and a double-sided
single covering the R&B hits "Earth Angel"
and "Pledging My Love" – all reached the bottom half of the Hot 100.
His biggest success came with his sixth single, the up-tempo "Poetry in
Motion",[1] written by Paul Kaufman and Mike Anthony, and recorded in Nashville
with session musicians including saxophonist Boots Randolph and
pianist Floyd Cramer, Released in September 1960, it went to # 2 on the
Hot 100 in the US, and # 1 on the UK Singles Chart in January 1961.
It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by
the RIAA. On Bleyer's advice, Tillotson focused on his recording career, also
appearing on television and was featured as a teen idol in magazines.
His follow-up record, "Jimmy's Girl," reached # 25 in the US charts and # 43 in the UK; after that,
"Without You" returned him to the US Top Ten but failed to make
the UK Singles Chart. He toured widely with Dick Clark's
Cavalcade of Stars. Early in 1962, Tillotson recorded a song he wrote, "It Keeps Right on
A-Hurtin'," inspired by the terminal illness of his father. It became
one of his biggest hits, reaching No. 3 in the US pop chart, and was the
first of his records to make the country music chart where it peaked
at No. 4. It earned his first Grammy nomination for him, for Best
Country & Western Recording, and was covered by over 100 performers
including Elvis Presley and Billy Joe Royal, whose version was a
country hit in 1988. Tillotson then recorded an album, It Keeps Right
on A-Hurtin', on which he covered country standards including Hank
Locklin's "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" and Hank Williams'
"I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," which also became
hit singles. He continued to record country-flavored and pop songs in 1963, and
"You Can Never Stop Me Loving You" and the follow-up, the Willie
Nelson song "Funny How Time Slips Away," both made the Hot 100.
He also appeared in the 1963 movie Just for Fun.