Guy Mitchell (born Albert George Cernik; February 22, 1927 – July 1, 1999) was an American pop singer and actor, successful in his homeland, the UK, and Australia. He sold 44 million records, including six million-selling

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s. In the fall of 1957, Mitchell starred on the eponymous

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''The Guy Mitchell Show''. He appeared as George Romack on the 1961

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

series ''

Whispering Smith ''Whispering Smith'' is a 1948 American Western film directed by Leslie Fenton and starring Alan Ladd as a railroad detective assigned to stop a gang of train robbers. The supporting cast includes Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall and Donald C ...

''.

Life and career

Born of Croatian immigrants in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, at age 11 he was signed by

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

Pictures, to be a child star, and performed on the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

KFWB KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. After leaving school, he worked as a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

maker, supplementing his income by singing. Dude Martin, who had a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

broadcast in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, hired him for his band. Mitchell served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for two years in World War II, then sang with

Carmen Cavallaro Carmen Cavallaro (May 6, 1913 – October 12, 1989) was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation. Music career Carmen Cavallaro was born in New York City, Un ...

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

. In 1947 he recorded for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

with Cavallaro's band, but left due to food poisoning. He went next to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and made records for King Records as Al Grant (one, "Cabaret", appeared in the Variety charts). He won on the radio show ''

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' (also known as ''Talent Scouts'') was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting ''Arthur Godf ...

'' in 1949 as a soloist.

Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

, in charge of talent at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, noticed Cernik in 1950. He joined Columbia and took his new stage name at Miller's urging: Miller supposedly said, "my name is 'Mitchell' and you seem a nice 'guy', so we'll call you Guy Mitchell."

Bob Merrill Henry Robert Merrill Levan (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He was one of the most successful songwriters of the 1950s on the US and UK single charts. He wrote ...

wrote hits for Mitchell. In the 1950s and 1960s Mitchell acted in such movies as ''

Those Redheads From Seattle ''Those Redheads from Seattle'' is a 1953 American musical western film produced in 3-D directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring Rhonda Fleming, Gene Barry and Agnes Moorehead, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was the first 3-D musical. P ...

'' (1953) and '' Red Garters'' (1954). He appeared in "Choose a Victim", a 1961 episode of '' Thriller''. In 1990, he appeared in several episodes of the BBC drama series

Your Cheatin' Heart "Your Cheatin' Heart" is a song written and recorded by country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1952. It is regarded as one of country's most important standards. Williams was inspired to write the song while driving with his fiancé ...

as the fictional country singer Jim Bob O'May, singing several standards including his own hit "

Singing the Blues "Singing the Blues" is a popular song written by Melvin Endsley and published in 1956. The song was first recorded and released by Marty Robbins in 1956. It is not related to the 1920 jazz song "Singin' the Blues" recorded by Frank Trumbauer ...

". His first hit was " My Heart Cries for You" (1951). Other hits included " Heartaches by the Number", "

Rock-a-Billy Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

" (a crossover into the rock and roll field), " The Same Old Me", and his biggest hit, "

", which was number one for 10 weeks in 1956.

Death

Mitchell died on July 1, 1999, aged 72, at Desert Springs Hospital in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

of complications from cancer surgery.

Tribute

In 2007, to commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday, the English division of

SonyBMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout ...

released ''The Essential Collection'' CD. His song " Heartaches by the Number" was part of the soundtrack of the 2010 video game '' Fallout: New Vegas''.

Singles discography

Best known songs

*" My Heart Cries for You" (1950) *" The Roving Kind" (1951) *"

My Truly, Truly Fair "My Truly, Truly Fair" is a traditional popular music, popular song written by Bob Merrill. It was published in 1951. The song was one of a number of Bob Merrill songs popularized by Guy Mitchell. Mitchell recorded it with Mitch Miller and his or ...

" (1951) *" Sparrow In The Treetop" (1951) *"

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

" (1952) *"

She Wears Red Feathers "She Wears Red Feathers" is a popular music, popular song, which was written by Bob Merrill and published in 1952. Background and reception The best-known sound recording and reproduction, recording of the song was made by Guy Mitchell in 1952 ...

" (1953) *"Belle, Belle, My Liberty Belle" (1951) *" Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-po)" (1952) *" Heartaches by the Number" (1959) *" Knee Deep in the Blues" (1957) *" Look At That Girl" (1953) *"Ninety Nine Years (Dead or Alive)" (1956) *"Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie" (1953) *"

" (1957) *"The Same Old Me" (1960) *"

" (1956) *" The Roving Kind" (1950) *"Cloud Lucky Seven" (1953) *"Unless" (1951)

Re-recorded songs

In February 1982 he re-recorded 20 of his popular songs with new musical backings (in stereo) at the Audio Media Studio in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

for Bulldog Records (No. BDL 2041 in the UK). The album was entitled "20 Golden Pieces of Guy Mitchell" (not to be confused with "20 Golden Greats" by Mitchell released in 1979). The songs on the album are:- Side 1 #Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania #Feet Up (Pat Him on the Popo) #Heartaches by the Number #She Wears Red Feathers #Sparrow in the Tree Top #Sippin' Soda #Rockabilly #Cuff of my Shirt #Cloud Lucky Seven #Chicka Boom Side 2 #Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie #Side by Side #Music, Music, Music #The Rovin' Kind #My Heart Cries for You #My Shoes Keep Walking Back #Call Rosie on the Phone #My Truly, Truly Fair #Knee Deep in the Blues #Singin' the Blues

References

External links

Guy Mitchell Appreciation Society site
belle49.freeserve.co.uk

"The Interlude Era" site], earthlink.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Guy 1927 births 1999 deaths United States Navy personnel of World War II Traditional pop music singers Starday Records artists Columbia Records artists People from the Las Vegas Valley Western (genre) television actors 20th-century American singers Singers from Detroit 20th-century American male singers Deaths from cancer in Nevada