Johnny Long (October 7, 1916* (disputed) – October 31, 1972) was an American violinist and bandleader, known as "The Man Who's Long on Music".
He was raised on a farm in Newell, North Carolina, currently a subdivision of Charlotte and manifested a serious interest in music while still a young boy, taking up the violin at age six. Long was born right-handed, but at age seven he seriously injured two fingers on his right hand in an accident on the farm -- he might well have left the violin, but he refused to give up on the instrument and his teacher Nan Gordon was inspired by his dedication to reverse the stringing on his violin, and he proceeded to learn to play left-handed.
As a freshman at Duke University, Long joined with ten other freshmen to create a school band named The Duke Collegians. During their second year, they were adopted as the official school band. The band stayed together throughout their school years and, upon graduation, renamed themselves The Johnny Long Orchestra, with Long as the bandleader.
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For a number of years they toured the country and played among other places, at Roseland and the Paramount Theatre in New York. They were eventually signed on to Vocalion Records (owned by ARC) in 1937 for the release of Just Like That.
For a number of years they toured the country and played among other places, at Roseland and the Paramount Theatre in New York. They were eventually signed on to Vocalion Records (owned by ARC) in 1937 for the release of Just Like That. They performed their first national radio broadcast in 1939 on The Fitch Summer Bandwagon Show, which boosted their national popularity. This resulted in the
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band being signed on by Decca Records. His orchestra earned the label "Miracle Band of the Year" thru a series of lengthy engagements at some of the top and locations in the country.
The Johnny Long Orchestra accompanied Ella Fitzgerald on her Decca recording of "Confessin' That I Love You". He was chosen to play the President's Birthday Ball in Washington in 1942, and also that his has been the only record of "Back Up the Red, White and Blue with God," official song of the Treasury's War Bond Dept. During the war, Johnny entertained at as many camps, air bases and hospitals as his busy hours would permit.
Under management of Decca, Long released a hit single, "In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town", that resulted in over one million sales. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. This song quickly became the band's signature tune.
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This song, and numerous other hits, made the band one of the most successful big bands in the country during the 1940s. Other popular covers included "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" and "Poor Butterfly". One of the high points of his career was playing Franklin D. Roosevelts Birthday Ball in April 1941.
Out of a total of some 125 sides for Decca between 1940 and 1946, other popular selections recorded by Long included My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time, Time Waits for No One, Blue Skies, Candy, Waitin' for the Train to Come In, When I Grow Too Old to Dream, and No Love, No Nothin'.
From 1946 to 1955, he and his band cut additional titles for, variously, Signature, King, Mercury, and Coral, including a couple re-makes of Shanty Town along the way. His final recordings were LPs: "Saturday Night Dance Date" (1958), "Let's Dance with Johnny Long and His Orchestra" (1959), and "Johnny Long's Golden Hits."Throughout the years, Long and his band played for appreciative dancers across the U.S., particularly at college and university proms. They also appeared at such venues as the Hotel New Yorker in New York City; the Metronome Room of the Wardman Park Hotel and the Blue Room of the Shoreham in Washington, DC; the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, NJ; and the O'Henry Ballroom and Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.
However, not much more than a year afterwards, following a bout with pneumonia he suffered an apparent heart attack and died at his home in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He was 56 years old. He is buried in the cemetery of Newell Baptist church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
(Edited from Wikipedia and The Big Band Library)
(* other dates given are 12 September 1914 & 2 August 1915)
(* other dates given are 12 September 1914 & 2 August 1915)