Pat Boone: Difference between revisions

According to ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', Boone was the only singer that could compete in popularity with [[Elvis Presley]] during the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Boone Bio |url=https://www.jango.com/music/Pat+Boone/_full_bio|title=Pat Boone Bio|website=Jango.com}}</ref>. Always ''Billboard'', has ranked Pat as one of the biggest charting artists in the period 1955–1995.<ref>{{cite book|title=Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, The|year=1996|page=806|publisher=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|author=Joel Whitburn|author-link=Joel Whitburn}}</ref> Until the 2010s, Boone held the record for spending 220 consecutive weeks on the [[Billboard charts]] with one or more songs each week.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-06 |title=Pat Boone {{!}} Biography, Songs, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pat-Boone |access-date=2024-05-20 |website=www.britannicaBritannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

During the 1950s and the 1960s Boone was one of the most popular entertainerentertainers in the [[United States]],<ref name=":0" />, becoming a [[teen idol]] as a validevalid alternative to the [[hedonism]] of rock and roll, thanks to his activities as singer, writer, actor and religious motivational speaker.<ref name=":1" /> In 1957, the age of 23, Boone began hosting a half-hour [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] variety television series, ''The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom'', which aired for 115 episodes (1957–1960). Many musical performers including [[Edie Adams]], [[Andy Williams]], [[Pearl Bailey]], and [[Johnny Mathis]] made appearances on the show.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pat Boone |date=May 29, 2024 |title=Pat Boone |url=https://www.goldlabelartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/PAT-BOONE-BIO.pdf}}</ref> His [[cover version]]s of [[rhythm and blues]] hits had a noticeable effect on the development of the broad popularity of [[rock and roll]]. [[Elvis Presley]] was the opening act for a 1955 Pat Boone show in [[Brooklyn, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/pat_boone_elvis_presley.shtml|title=Pat Boone Remembers Elvis Presley : Elvis Articles: Official Elvis Presley Fan Club : Elvis Australia : Pat Boone |website=Elvis.com.au|access-date=September 19, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928072111/http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/pat_boone_elvis_presley.shtml|archive-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=Albrecht |first=Brian |title=Headliner Pat Boone recalls 1955 Brooklyn High School rock concert with Elvis.... who? |url=https://www.cleveland.com/news/g66l-2019/02/6c984b606a5172/headliner-pat-boone-recalls-1955-brooklyn-high-school-rock-concert-with-elvis-who.html |access-date=April 8, 2021 |work=The Plain Dealer |date=February 10, 2019}}</ref>

Boone was born on June 1, 1934, in [[Jacksonville, Florida]], the son of Margaret Virginia (née Pritchard) and Archie Altman Boone. He grew up in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], where his family moved when he was two years old. Pat Boone graduated in 1952 from [[Lipscomb Academy|David Lipscomb High School]] in Nashville. His younger brother Cecil (1935–2023), professionally known as [[Nick Todd]], was born a year later to the day,<ref name="obiNBoone">{{cite web |url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/nashville-tn/nick-boone-11118203|title=Obituary Nick Boone June 1, 1935 – January 20, 2023|date=|accessdateaccess-date=June 10, 2023|publisher=Dignity Memorial }}</ref> and was also a pop singer in the 1950s and later a church music leader.<ref name="ParishPitts2003">{{cite book|last1=Parish|first1=James Robert|last2=Pitts|first2=Michael R.|title=Hollywood Songsters: Allyson to Funicello|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlybVaD6cakC&pg=PA99|access-date=July 23, 2010|date=July 2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-94332-1|page=99}}</ref>

Many of Boone's hit singles were covers of hits from Black Rock and Roll artists. These included: "Ain't That a Shame" by Fats Domino; "[[Tutti Frutti (song)|Tutti Frutti]]" and "[[Long Tall Sally]]" by [[Little Richard]];<ref name="Show 6">{{cite web|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19752/m1|title=Show 6 – Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll: The rock revolution gets underway|website=Digital.library.unt.edu |date=March 16, 1969|access-date=September 20, 2010}}</ref> "[[At My Front Door|At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama)]]" by [[The El Dorados]]; and the [[blues ballad]]s "[[I Almost Lost My Mind]]" by [[Ivory Joe Hunter]], "I'll be Home" by [[the Flamingos]] and "[[Don't Forbid Me]]" by [[Charles Singleton (songwriter)|Charles Singleton]]. Boone has been highlighted as an example of [[Whitewashing in film|whitewashing]] by taking songs by black artists and sanitizing them to make them more palatable for a white audience, denying exposure to these black artists.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-whitewashing-of-black-music-five-singles-made-popular-by-white-artists/|title=The whitewashing of Black music: Five singles made popular by white artist|date=August 11, 2021 |work=Far Out magazine|accessdateaccess-date=18 March 2023}}</ref>

In 2011, Boone acted as a spokesperson for Security One Lending, a reverse mortgage company.<ref name=":3">{{Cite AV media |last=kpb92651|title=Security One Lending – Innovative Direct Response|date=October 5, 2011|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvUCtEL7kAA| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211031/mvUCtEL7kAA| archive-date=October 31, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=February 6, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Since at least 2007<ref>{{Cite AV media |last=swissamerica|title=Swiss America-Free Gold Info w/ Pat Boone|date=September 11, 2007|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASpX9gNkfHs| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211031/ASpX9gNkfHs| archive-date=October 31, 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=February 6, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Boone has acted as a spokesperson for Swiss America Trading Corporation, a broker of gold and silver coins that warns of "America's Economic Collapse".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.swissamerica.com/press.php|title=Investment Market & News Reports {{!}} Swiss America Trading|access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref>

In 2023 Boone, at 89, is one of the guest vocalists on ''[[Born to beBe Wild (Ann-Margret album)|Born to Be Wild]]'', an album by [[Ann-Margret]]. Together they perform the song "[[Teach meMe Tonight]]" on the album.<ref>[https://shorefire.com/releases/entry/ann-margret-returns-with-all-star-collaborators-onborn-to-be-wild-her-first-album-in-over-a-decade-due-out-april-14-on-cleopatra-record] {{dead link|date=June 2024}}</ref>

In November 1953, when he was 19 years old, Boone married Chicago-born<ref>Ancestry Library Edition{{verify source|date=December 2022}}</ref> [[Tennessee]]an Shirley Lee Foley (April 24, 1934 – January 11, 2019<ref name="Shirley Boone death">{{cite news|last=Goldstein|first=Joelle|title=Pat Boone's Wife of 65 Years, Shirley, Dies: 'I've Parted with My Better Half for a Little While'|url=https://people.com/music/pat-boone-wife-shirley-dies-at-84|access-date=January 12, 2019|work=People|date=January 11, 2019}}</ref>), also 19 years old, daughter of country music great [[Red Foley]] and his wife, singer [[Judy Martin (singer)|Judy Martin]]. They had four daughters: [[Cherry Boone|Cheryl "Cherry" Lynn]], Linda "Lindy" Lee, [[Debby Boone|Deborah "Debby" Ann]], and Laura "Laury" Gene. Starting in the late 1950s, Boone and his family were residents of [[Teaneck, New Jersey]].<ref>Staff. [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/2068855972.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+16%2C+1958&author=&pub=Daily+Boston+Globe+(1928-1960)&desc=Kings+for+A+Day&pqatl=google "Kings for A Day"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107213618/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/2068855972.html?FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+16%2C+1958&author=&pub=Daily+Boston+Globe+(1928-1960)&desc=Kings+for+A+Day&pqatl=google |date=November 7, 2012}} ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', June 16, 1958. Retrieved March 30, 2011. "Singer Pat Boone and family leave Leonia, NJ home for church. Front, Cherry, 3 1/2; Debbie, 1 1/2, and Linda, 2 1/2."</ref> Shirley Boone was a lesser-known recording artist and television personality than her husband. She also founded a hunger-relief Christian ministry that evolved into [[Mercy Corps]].<ref name="Shirley Boone death" /> She died in 2019, aged 84, at the couple's Beverly Hills home from complications from [[vasculitis]], which she had contracted less than a year earlier.<ref name="Shirley Boone death" />

In December 2009, Boone endorsed conservative Republican John Wayne Tucker's campaign in [[Missouri's 3rd congressional district]] against incumbent [[Russ Carnahan]] (D) in the 2010 midterm elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://johnwaynetucker.com/congress/campaign_endorsements.html|title=Pat Boone Endorses John Wayne Tucker for Congress|date=December 15, 2009|website=JohnWayneTucker.com|access-date=January 26, 2011}}</ref> In 2010, Boone endorsed Republican Clayton Trotter in the race for [[Texas's 20th congressional district]] with an ad campaign referencing his song "[[Speedy Gonzales (song)|Speedy Gonzales]]", about [[Speedy Gonzales|the Looney Tunes character]], which critics have characterized as offensive stereotypes.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Trotter-s-campaign-ad-had-to-be-an-inside-job-735873.php|title=Trotter's campaign ad had to be an inside job|author=Greg Jefferson|date=October 28, 2010|journal=San Antonio Express -News|access-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/clayton-trotter-the-anglo-with-the-hispanic-heart/|title=Clayton Trotter: "The Anglo With The Hispanic Heart"|date=October 28, 2010|author=Kyle Mantyla|website=RightWingWatch|access-date=June 25, 2021}}</ref> Boone received a lifetime achievement award at the 38th annual [[Conservative Political Action Conference]] held in February 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://60plus.org/boone-honored-by-cpac-lifetime-achievement-award|publisher=[[60 Plus Association]] |title=Boone Honored By CPAC Lifetime Achievement Award|website=60plus.org|date=February 9, 2011|access-date=May 4, 2012}}</ref>

During his career, he performed many [[musical genres]] such as [[Pop music|pop]], [[country music]], [[rock and roll]], [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], [[Gospel music|gospel]] and [[Soul music|soul]].<ref name=":3" /> His vocal style was similar to many [[Crooner|croonerscrooner]]s of his time like [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Perry Como]], despite that, he wasn't a [[baritone]] like them, instead he had a [[tenor]] voice. He was also popular for his wide vocal range.<ref name="Larkin" />

Pat Boone is one of the most prolific artists of all time with nearly 2',600 recorded songs.<ref name=":2" />