AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Guy Mitchell

Artist:Guy Mitchell
Song:Singing The Blues
Album:Sunshine Guitar





Guy Mitchell was one of the most popular singers of the 50s. Because his two biggest hits were covers of country music hits, he was criticized for doing that. Singing The Blues was one of those hits. He sang whatever Columbia Records head Mitch Miller gave him to sing. He was born Albert Cernick Feb. 27, 1927 in Detroit to Croatian immigrants. Young Albert started singing at an early age. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1938 Warner Bros. Pictures signed Albert to a contract. and planned to turn him into a child film star. Instead he sang on the Warners owned radio stations until the family moved to San Francisco in 1940. He was training to be a cowboy while singing on the side and this led to a radio job. After two years in the Navy, he joined the Carmen Cavallero Orchestra as lead singer in 1947. He was billed as Al Cernick. He had to leave because of illness and recorded as Al Grant for King Records in 1948. A win on the Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio show led to a job as a demo singer. And in 1950, he was spotted by Columbia Records head Mitch Miller and signed to a contract. Miller renamed Cernick Guy Mitchell. His first success came when two Frank Sinatra rejects My Heart Cries For You and The Roving Kind charted in 1951. He was doing OK for a while and tried acting but his singing career was fading. Singing The Blues was a #1 country music hit for Marty Robbins in 1956. Miller had Mitchell record a pop version and it was an even bigger hit on the pop charts. Then Tommy Steele had #1 hit in England with the song. It was written by country music singer Melvin Endsley who wrote a lot of songs for Don Gibson and Marty Robbins. This earned Mitchell a TV variety show in 1957. Mitchell's other #1 hit Heartaches By The Number in 1959 was also a country hit for Ray Price. Guy Mitchell's recording career ended when Mitch Miller left Columbia in 1961. This Collectables comp has all his hits. Guy Mitchell continued to tour and was very popular in England and Eastern Europe because of his nationality. He died July 1, 1999 at age 72. Here's Guy Mitchell performing Singing The Blues on The Ed Sullivan Show 1956.