101 | 21 August 2023
Jimmy Clanton | Public Domain | 14660
Jimmy Clanton was born in Raceland, Louisiana, on September 2, 1938 and is still living. He was a singer who also did a spell as a disc jockey. Jimmy Clanton’s “Just a dream” was one of his US top ten hits, written in 1958, and was issued on UK Sue ILP 920, “50 Minutes 24 Seconds of Recorded Dynamite”.
One of the few white singers to emerge from the New Orleans rock and roll/R&B scene, he had seven chart successes for Ace Records and toured with Fats Domino and The Platters. His best known song in the UK is probably “Venus in Blue Jeans”, written by Howard Greenfield and Jack Keller, and covered in the UK by Mark Wynter. At the peak of his career from the late 50s to mid 60s he was managed by recording studio owner Cosimo Matassa (who co-wrote “Just a Dream”).
From 1972 to 1976 Clanton was a disc jockey at WHEX, Columbia, Pennsylvania. In the 1995 Jazz Fest in New Orleans Clanton performed with Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Frankie Ford.
Chart Position: Billboard No. 4 Pop, 1958. Million seller.
Sue Records UK 