Candy Johnson (February 8, 1944 – October 20, 2012) was an American
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
and
dancer
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
who appeared in several
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s in the 1960s.
Biography
She was born on 8 February 1944 as Vicki Jane Husted in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to Jeannette 'Jeanne' N. Rathmann and Clarence William Husted. After her mother remarried, she took her stepfather's surname of Johnston. She attended and graduated from
San Gabriel High School
San Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a public high school located in Los Angeles County, California and operated by the Alhambra Unified School District. It is almost entirely in the city limits of Alhambra with a small portion in the city limits of ...
, in whose yearbooks she is listed simply as "Candy Johnston", and she subsequently changed her name professionally to Candy Johnson. Her mother, who, according to Candy's half-brother Jon Johnston was a dancer in her own right, was herself the sister of two famous Indy 500 racers,
Royal 'Jim' Rathmann and
Jim 'Dick' Rathmann.
Her most notable films are several
beach party
''Beach Party'' is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience.Smith, Gary A. Smith (2009) ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland p.21 ...
productions by
American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...
, in which she played Candy, a girl who could dance so hard it would literally knock the guys off their feet. In ''
Beach Party
''Beach Party'' is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience.Smith, Gary A. Smith (2009) ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland p.21 ...
'' (1963) she is credited as the "perpetual motion dancer." She remained a part of the series for the next three films, with her last appearance being in 1964 in ''
Pajama Party'', where she had a small cameo role.
She also recorded under the name "Candy Johnson and her Exciters." The Exciters were a band her agent (and future husband) Red Gilson managed and partnered her with. The recordings of Candy and the Exciters were released by Canjo records, a private label started by Johnson and Gilson in 1964 to capitalize on her club and film appearances. Canjo was in business for only one year and released two albums and seven singles.
She also appeared at the
1964 World's Fair in
Flushing
Flushing may refer to:
Places
* Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom
* Flushing, Queens, New York City
** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens
** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens
** Flushing ...
,
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. After seeing her show, the New York rock group
The Strangeloves
The Strangeloves were a band created in 1964 by the New York City, New York-based United States, American songwriter, songwriting and record producer, production team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein (producer), Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Got ...
were inspired to write their hit single "
I Want Candy
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by the Strangeloves in 1965 that reached No. 11 in the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat.
Original version ...
," which reached #11 on the Billboard charts. The song would be rerecorded by a number of artists over the following decades, including
The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me". After Poole's departu ...
,
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band behind 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on vocals. They released their debut EP '' Your Cassette ...
and
Aaron Carter
Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of the ...
.
Candy retired from performing in 1968 and subsequently led a private existence, eventually settling in
Corona, California
Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...
. At the request of friends, she attended a special showing of ''Beach Party'' at a Los Angeles theatre in 2006. When the film ended, the organizer of the event announced to the crowd that Candy was in attendance. She rose to take a bow and received a standing ovation.
After being diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2012, she remained in a Corona, California convalescent hospital, where she died of the disease in her sleep at age 68 on October 20, 2012. She was cremated and her remains brought to outer space on 21 June 2013, by the Houston-based extraterrestrial-burial company
Celestis
Celestis, Inc. is a company that launches cremated human remains into space, a procedure known as a space burial. It is a subsidiary of the private space company Space Services Inc. The company purchases launches as a secondary payload on va ...
.
References
External links
*
* http://www.candyjohnson.com
Candy Johnson and (the/her) Exciters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Candy
1944 births
2012 deaths
American women singers
Jazz-blues musicians
American female dancers
Dancers from California
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
Deaths from cancer in California
Neurological disease deaths in California
21st-century American women