Singer/songwriter Sammy Johns was born on February 7, 1946 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He received his first guitar as a present from his father at age nine. Johns started his own band called the Devilles while still in his teens. The Devilles lasted from 1963 to 1973; the group performed at various local clubs and recorded a few singles on the Dixie label. In 1973 Sammy secured a record deal with the General Recording Corporation, who released his debut album “Early Morning Love” in 1974. The titular track was a minor Billboard chart hit. Johns scored his biggest smash success with the single “Chevy Van.” The extremely groovy and mellow tune peaked at #5 on the Billboard pop charts and sold over three million copies. The success of “Chevy Van” inspired the enjoyably lowbrow Crown International teen exploitation comedy romp “The Van;” Sammy co-composed the score for this movie and his signature number “Chevy Van” was prominently featured on the soundtrack. (“Chevy Van” was also featured on the soundtrack to the 2004 film “Starsky & Hutch.”) Alas, the follow-up single “Rag Doll” was only a modest success. However, Johns has since gone on to become a successful songwriter whose compositions have been covered by several popular country singers. John Conlee had a gold record with his rendition of Sammy’s “Common Man” and Conway Twitty scored his final gold record with “Desperado Love.” Waylon Jennings sung Johns’ “America” in a 1985 national television broadcast celebrating the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. The single for “America” subsequently went gold and was nominated in some country music circles for song of the year. In 1996 Sammy Kershaw did a cover of “Chevy Van” on his album “Politics, Religion and Her.” More recently Sammy Johns recorded the comeback album “Honky-Tonk Moon” in 2000.
IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
Trivia
His song, “Chevy Van,” reached # 5 on the pop music charts in May of 1975, and inspired the plot of the movie, The Van (1977).
Like
