Artist:Johnny Crawford
Song:Cindy's Birthday
Album:Happy Birthday, Baby!
When I was a kid, I was a big fan of the Western TV series The Rifleman for the same reason I liked Lassie. A kid was a main character of the show. So when Johnny Crawford scored a top ten hit with his 1962 recording of Cindy's Birthday, I liked The Rifleman even more and I still watch it occasionally. Unfortunately for Crawford, The Rifleman was the highlight of his acting career. And he was out of the music business by 1968. He was born Mar. 26, 1946 in Los Angeles. His father was an editor on the TV show Laramie. And Johnny and his older brother Robert Crawford Jr. appeared on the show. All three were Emmy nominated. Crawford started out as a Mouseketeer and appeared in several TV shows. When the 1958 pilot for The Rifleman aired on Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, ABC picked the show up. It starred former baseball player Chuck Connors as a homesteading widower with a preteen son played by Crawford. The show was very popular with kids and Crawford was nominated for a 1959 Emmy. At the time, teen idols were becoming a big thing. So it's not surprising that record companies were interested in Crawford. He signed with Del-Fi Records owner Bob Keane. He had success with Richie Valens until Valens' tragic death. Keane wasn't able to repeat Valens' success. But a few of Crawford's singles charted. The 1962 single Cindy's Birthday reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Hal Winn and Jeff Hooven. It was Hooven's only hit. But Winn scored a top ten hit with Richard Chamberlain's vocal version of The Theme from Dr. Kildare. Crawford recorded three albums for Del-Fi and was out of the music business by the late 60s. You can get Cindy's Birthday on this birthday themed various artists comp from Bear Family. Crawford continued to appear in films and TV but he was never a star. In the 90s, Crawford started the vintage dance orchestra The Johnny Crawford Orchestra. It looks like they mostly performed in Las Vegas. After a 2019 Alzheimer's diagnosis, Crawford died on Apr. 29,2021 at age 75. Here's a video for Cindy's Birthday by Johnny Crawford.
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