Biography and Early Career
Born John Bush Shinn III in the blue-collar neighborhood of Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Texas, Bush listened to the western swing music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and the honky-tonk sounds of artists like Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson. Thanks to a disc jockey uncle, Bush got a taste for performance. In 1952 he moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he began solo career in area honky-tonks like the Texas Star Inn before switching to drums. It was during this period that he earned his stage name, when an announcer mistakenly introduced him as "Johnny Bush." As a drummer he worked for bands like the Mission City Playboys, the Texas Plainsmen and the Texas Top Hands.
In 1963, Bush joined Ray Price's band, the Cherokee Cowboys along with a young Willie Nelson and Darrell McCall. His association with Price led Bush to Nashville and a contract to sing for record demos. He also played in Nelson's band, the Record Men. With Nelson's financial backing, Bush recorded his first album in 1967, The Sound of a Heartache.
Read more about this topic: Johnny Bush
Famous quotes containing the words biography, early and/or career:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“In early times, before the floods swept across the world, there was life, albeit odd, as one can see from the fossils of mammoth bones, and there was the regime of Prince Metternich.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)