PAT BOONE Biography - Musicians

 
 

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PAT BOONE

Name: Pat Boone                                                                         
Birth name: Charles Eugene Boone                                                         
Also known as Pat Boone                                                                 
Born: 1 June 1934 Jacksonville, Florida, USA                                             
                                                                                         
Charles Eugene Patrick "Pat" Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer             
whose smooth style made him a popular performer of the 1950s. His cover versions         
of African-American rhythm and blues hits had a noticeable impact on the                 
development of the broad popularity of rock and roll. He is also an actor, a             
motivational speaker, a television personality, and a conservative political             
commentator.                                                                             
                                                                                         
Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Pat Boone has said that he is a direct descendant         
of the American pioneer Daniel Boone. He grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and             
graduated from Columbia University magna cum laude in 1958 after a period at             
David Lipscomb College and North Texas State University (now the University of           
North Texas).                                                                           
                                                                                         
Boone began recording in 1954 for Republic Records. His 1955 version of Fats             
Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" was a huge hit. This set the stage for the early           
part of Boone's career, which focused on covering R&B songs by black artists for         
a white market.                                                                         
                                                                                         
Six of Boone's hit singles were R&B covers. These were "Ain't That a Shame" by           
Fats Domino and "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard, and "At         
My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)" by the El Dorados. The other two R&B covers           
were blues ballads, "I Almost Lost My Mind" by Ivory Joe Hunter and "Chains of           
Love", a hit for Big Joe Turner and later B.B. King that had been written by             
Ahmet Ertegun. By 1957, Boone was concentrating on middle-of-the-road music.             
Although he would continue to record R&B songs (such as "Two Little Kisses," a           
non-alcoholic version of "One Mint Julep"), and his version of The Capris' song,         
"There's a Moon Out Tonight" as cover versions.                                         
                                                                                         
The handprints of Pat Boone in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney             
World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.                                           
                                                                                         
Boone sported a clean-cut image that appealed to white Americans. His singing           
style followed in the tradition of his idol, Bing Crosby. Preferring to carry on         
in the Crosby tradition, he soon began turning more and more to ballads. Some of         
his biggest hits included "Love Letters in the Sand" (with the instrumental             
break featuring Boone's whistling), "April Love", "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I           
Love)", and "Don't Forbid Me".                                                           
                                                                                         
His recording of the theme song from the 1957 film April Love topped the charts         
for six weeks and was nominated for an Academy Award. Pat also wrote the lyrics         
for the instrumental theme song for the movie Exodus (Ernest Gold wrote the             
music.)                                                                                 
                                                                                         
A devout born-again Christian, he was raised in the conservative Church of               
Christ, but has been a member of a Pentecostal church since the late 1960s.             
Boone has refused both songs and movie roles that he felt might compromise his           
standards, including a role opposite the decade's reigning sex symbol, Marilyn           
Monroe. In his first film, April Love, he refused to give co-star/film love             
interest Shirley Jones an onscreen kiss, because the actress was married in real         
life.                                                                                   
                                                                                         
Among his other achievements, he hosted a TV series in the late 1950s and began         
writing in the early 1960s, a series of self-help books for adolescents,                 
including Twixt Twelve and Twenty.                                                       
                                                                                         
The British Invasion ended Boone's career as a hitmaker, though he continued             
recording throughout the 1960s. In the 1970s, he switched to gospel and country,         
and he continued performing in other media as well. He is currently working as           
the disc jockey of a popular oldies radio show and runs his own record company           
which provides an outlet for new recordings by 1950s greats who can no longer           
find a place with the major labels.                                                     
                                                                                         
Boone married Shirley Lee Foley, daughter of country music great Red Foley and           
singer Judy Martin, in 1953 and they had four daughters: Cherry, Lindy, Debby,           
and Laury. In the 1960s and 1970s the Boone family toured as gospel singers and         
made gospel albums, such as The Pat Boone Family and The Family Who Prays.               
                                                                                         
In the early 1970s, Pat founded the record label Lion & Lamb Records. It                 
featured artists such as Pat, The Pat Boone Family, Debby Boone, Dan Peek,               
DeGarmo & Key and Dogwood.                                                               
                                                                                         
In 1978, Boone was the first target in the Federal Trade Commission's crackdown         
on false claim product endorsements by celebrities. He had appeared with                 
daughter Debbie on TV to claim that all four of his daughters had found a               
preparation named Acne-Statin a "real help" in keeping their skins clear. The           
FTC filed a complaint against the manufacturer, contending that the product did         
not really keep skin free of blemishes. Boone eventually signed a consent order         
in which he promised not only to stop appearing in the ads but to pay about 2.5%         
of any money that the FTC or the courts might eventually order the manufacturer         
to refund to consumers. Boone said through a lawyer that his daughters actually         
did use Acne-Statin, and that he was "dismayed to learn that the product's               
efficacy had not been scientifically established as he believed."                       
                                                                                         
In 1997, Boone released In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, a collection of           
heavy metal covers. To promote the album, he appeared at the American Music             
Awards in black leather, shocking audiences and losing his respectability among         
his largest constituency, conservative Christians.                                       
                                                                                         
He was then fired from Gospel America, a TV show on the Trinity Broadcasting             
Network. About a year later, the controversy died down and many fans, including         
Jack Hayford, accepted his explanation of the leather outfit being a "parody of         
himself". He was re-hired by Trinity Broadcasting and Gospel America was brought         
back.                                                                                   
                                                                                         
In 2003, the Gospel Music Association of Nashville, Tennessee recognized his             
gospel recording work by inducting him into its Gospel Music Hall of Fame. In           
September 2006, Boone released Pat Boone R&B Classics - We Are Family, featuring         
cover versions of 11 R&B hits, including the title track, plus "Papa's Got A             
Brand New Bag," "Soul Man," "Get Down Tonight," "A Woman Needs Love," and six           
other classics.                                                                         
                                                                                         
In 2007 Pat Boone was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.                         
                                                                                         
Boone and his wife live in Los Angeles, California. They are members of The             
Church on the Way in the San Fernando Valley. His one-time neighbor was Ozzy             
Osbourne and his family. Boone's cover of Osbourne's song "Crazy Train" became           
the theme song for The Osbournes. (It appears on The Osbournes Soundtrack.)             
Sharon Osbourne once said that Boone "never complained once" about living next           
door to their less-than-traditional family.                                             
                                                                                         
In 2006, Boone penned an article for WorldNetDaily in which he argued that               
Democrats and others who are against the Iraq War cannot, under any                     
circumstances, be considered patriotic. He was interviewed by Neil Cavuto on             
Fox News, where he expressed his outrage against the opponents of George W. Bush         
(namely the Dixie Chicks) that their criticisms of the President showed they did         
not "respect their elders". However, another article defended Mel Gibson                 
after the actor was recorded making an anti-Semitic rant.                               
                                                                                         
In early 2007, Boone wrote two articles claiming that the theory of evolution is         
an "absurd," "nonsensical" "bankrupt false religion." He later wrote an                 
editorial in the form of a fairy tale where a young Prince Charming was seduced         
by a dwarf, got AIDS, and then overdosed.                                               
                                                                                         
In the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Pat Boone campaigned for incumbent         
Republican Ernie Fletcher with a prerecorded automated telephone message stating         
that the Democratic Party candidate Steve Beshear would support "every                   
homosexual cause." "Now do you want a governor who'd like Kentucky to be another         
San Francisco?" Boone asked.