Marty Robbins wasn’t the only artist to take “Singing the Blues”—written by Melvin Endsley—to the top of the charts. While Robbins was the first to record the song in 1956, pop singer-actor Guy Mitchell would ascend to the top of the U.S. Billboard charts with his own rendition the following year. Mitchell’s version of “Singing the Blues” spent 10 weeks at number one, also climbing the charts in Italy and the United Kingdom.
That kind of international success was nothing new for Mitchell, who sold more than 44 million records in the 1950s before starring in his own ABC variety show, The Guy Mitchell Show, beginning in 1957.
Today, we’re diving into the life and career of Guy Mitchell, who died on this day (July 1) in 1999 of complications from cancer surgery at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 72 years old.
He Had an Early Start to Performing
Born Albert George Cernik to Croatian immigrant parents on February 22, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, Mitchell’s entertainment career started when he was just 11 years old.
He signed as a child star with Warner Brothers Pictures after the family moved to Los Angeles, California.
Although he performed on a local radio station, Mitchell’s acting career never quite took off.
The family then moved to San Francisco, where—after leaving school—he worked as a saddle master, but still supplemented his income with singing whenever he could.
Eventually, Mitchell caught the attention of country singer and bandleader Dude Martin, who hosted a country music broadcast in San Francisco. Martin hired him to perform for his band.
He took a two-year break to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II before resuming his singing career with the Carmen Cavallaro Orchesta. In 1947, Mitchell joined Cavallaro’s band in the studio to record for Decca, but had to bow out early due to food poisoning.
After this, Mitchell went to New York City and recorded for King Records under the name Al Grant. In 1949, he won first place on the radio show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.
Becoming Guy Mitchell
In 1950, Guy Mitchell joined Columbia Records after being discovered by the label’s head of talent, Mitch Miller.
He adopted his stage name in honor of Miller, who supposedly said, “My name is ‘Mitchell’ and you seem a nice ‘guy’, so we’ll call you Guy Mitchell.”
Mitchell’s first five singles at Columbia failed to gain any traction. However, in 1950, Frank Sinatra’s loss was his gain.
The old-time crooner turned down recording a pair of songs, “My Heart Cries for You” and “The Roving Kind”. Unfortunately, Miller had already booked the musicians for the recording session, so he invited Mitchell to sing lead vocals instead.
As a result, “My Heart Cries For You” became his first hit, reaching number two on the U.S. Billboard charts.
The hits kept coming after that, including the two U.S. number-one singles “Singing the Blues” (1956) and “Heartaches By The Number” (1959).
In 1953, Mitchell appeared with Rhonda Fleming in the movie Those Redheads From Seattle. A year later, starred alongside Rosemary Clooney in Red Garters.
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“The Metropolitan Opera wanted Guy early in his career, but he loved pop and country music,” the singer’s wife, Betty Mitchell, said after his death. “He was one of the first to combine both forms of music and that made him real popular even during the rock ‘n’ roll era.”
Featured image by Jack Smith/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The post On This Day in 1999, We Said Goodbye to the International Pop Star Who Scored Six Million-Selling Singles in the 50s appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan
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