Johnny Maddox
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| Johnny Maddox | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 4, 1927 Gallatin, Tennessee, United States |
| Occupation | Ragtime pianist |
Johnny Maddox (born August 4, 1927 in Gallatin, Tennessee, United States) is an American ragtime pianist, historian, and collector of musical memorabilia.
Life and career
Maddox' interest in the era of ragtime was fueled by his great-aunt Zula Cothron. She had played ragtime with an all-girls' orchestra at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and later played in vaudeville. Johnny took lessons from her initially but also studied with several locals teachers, including Lela Donoho, who had played for silent movies in Gallatin. He studied classical music for 19 years with Prudence Simpson Dresser and Patricia Neal, who once studied with Franz Liszt. Johnny played his first public concert when he was only 5 and began his professional career in 1939 playing with a local dance band, the Rhythmasters, led by O'Donnel Templeton.
Around 1946, Maddox started working with his friend Randy Wood at Randy’s Record Shop in Gallatin when Randy launched Dot Records. His very first single, "St. Louis Tickle" with "Crazy Bone Rag" on the flip side (recorded May 19, 1950), sold over 22,000 copies in a few weeks. Maddox became the first successful artist to record for Dot Records, and his instant first success helped build the Dot into one of the most popular labels in the 1950s. Maddox's first record to sell over a million copies was probably Bob Wills's "San Antonio Rose," around 1951. Another one of his most popular early records was "In the Mood," and he performed the song on The Pee Wee King Show in February 1953.[1]
In January 1955 Maddox recorded "The Crazy Otto Medley," which was made up of several German folk songs, originally recorded by performer Fritz Schulz-Reichel under the persona Otto der Schräge. It spent 14 weeks at No. 1 and became the first million-selling all-piano record, eventually selling more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[2] The reference to Crazy Otto in the Grateful Dead song "Ramble on Rose" is a reference to Maddox.[3] Though it became confusing to the public both Maddox and Schulz-Reichel consequently became known as Crazy Otto.
Maddox subsequently performed on numerous popular TV shows in the 1950s. He performed several ragtime piano solos on The Jack Paar Show in March 1955, and this episode also featured Edie Adams. In the summer of '55, he performed "The Crazy Otto Medley" on The Milton Berle Show. Maddox played "Tea for Two" with two other pianists, Hazel Scott and Joe Loco, on Patti Page's program The Big Record in November 1956. One of his later appearances was on The Soupy Sales Show.[1] Maddox continued to record for Dot Records through 1967, by which time he had earned nine gold singles and his total sales were over 11 million.[citation needed] In addition, his picture hung in the main ballroom of the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant, in the company of Paul Whiteman, Rudy Vallee, Hank Williams, and Bill Haley.
One of the highlights of Maddox;s career was performing twice at New York's Stork Club, where he appeared on television with Teresa Brewer. He played with Swenson's Thrillcade for about four years. The piano was lifted off the back of a pickup truck by a hydraulic lift reaching as high as 15 feet.[citation needed] He worked alongside and befriended many musicians and performers during his travels. These included W.C. Handy, Sophie Tucker, Eddy Arnold, Lawrence Welk, Patsy Cline, Ted Lewis, Glenn Rowell, Joe Jordan, and Candy Candido.[citation needed]
Miscellany
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- Upon hearing him play in 1952, W.C. Handy is reported to have called Maddox "the white boy with the colored fingers."
- In 1954, Maddox was voted America's Number One Jukebox Artist by the Music Operators of America (M.O.A.)
- Maddox has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- An avid collector of ragtime memorabilia, he has amassed a collection of over 30,000 records and wax cylinders, as well as a sheet music collection of over 200,000 pieces, several thousand of which he has committed to memory.
Discography
- The Alley Cat & Other Piano Roll Favorites (Pickwick, SPC 3097) (1967)
