Overview
During a career that spanned four decades, from the time he was 15 until he died in 1993, Johnny Cymbal made a meaningful impact on popular music worldwide as a songwriter, singer, performer and record producer. During those years, in addition to his rock and roll anthem, "Mr. Bass Man", he was responsible for hit records including: "Teenage Heaven", "Cinnamon", "Mary In The Morning", "Rock Me Baby" and "I'm Drinking Canada Dry".
In 1963, with his smash hit "Mr. Bass Man" all over the top of the charts from the United States to Asia, Johnny Cymbal was recognized as a teen star. While continuing to record, he toured the US, Europe and Japan performing as both a solo headlining act and in rock and roll package shows. Later, as a songwriter and record producer, he found success in New York City, Los Angeles and Nashville.
First and foremost, Johnny Cymbal thought of himself as a songwriter; throughout his life he kept diaries of ideas and notes for future use. Though he was an excellent vocalist with a wonderful stage presence, he believed his greatest talent was composing. By 1966, having married and started a family, he no longer wished to be on the road as a performer so he committed himself to songwriting. Thereafter, although he continued to make records as a singer throughout his career, most of those recordings were released with the names of others (such as his brother, Derek) or pseudonymic "groups" as the artist.
A prolific composer, Johnny has a catalog of over 200 published songs. During his career he wrote alone and with many partners, including: CMA Hall Of Famer Charlie Black; Austin Roberts of "I.O.U." fame; Mark Sameth; multiple CMA award winner Gene Pistilli; legendary Nashville writer David Malloy; Bill Holmes, Peggy Clinger; and with Michael Rashkow as his co-writer, he penned the 10,000,000+ seller and BMI Million Performance Award Winner, "Mary In The Morning." With that song, John attained a lifetime ambition - to have one of his compositions recorded by Elvis Presley. George Tobin who together with Cymbal wrote and produced Cinnamon his biggest pop production. George Tobin was a staff producer for Musicor Records and he and Cymbal formed a writing and production partnership that lasted for 5 years and included the Gene Pitney UK hit Somewhere in the Country and all of the California based production during that period. As a staff producer for A&M Records Tobin signed and produced all of his A&M releases. As a singer, Cymbal had releases on numerous labels, including MGM, Columbia, Musicor, Kapp, Roulette, Bang, Curb, and Scepter. His recording pseudonyms included "Brother John", "Derek", "The Eye-Full Tower", "Dallas" and "The Non-Conformists", among many others.
Those who knew him best say Johnny was an extraordinarily intelligent, unpretentious, affable person who had a great sense of humor and a head for business. His friend and writing partner Austin Roberts said, "Johnny was always the fastest wit in the room--taking on and demolishing all comers because, wherever he was, he was definitely the funniest guy on the block." Cymbal's songs have been recorded by numerous artists: Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Gene Pitney, Al Martino, the Partridge Family, the Spencer Davis Group, Frankie Ford, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Ed Ames, Adam Wade, Aaron Tippin, Mike Curb, Jan and Dean, Trini Lopez and David Cassidy, among others. He wrote songs for and produced records for the legendary Mae West, and also placed material in movies such as Tender Mercies and the TV shows Catanooga Cats and Barnaby Jones.
In his career and his personal life, Johnny Cymbal encountered both fame and misfortune. He had success as a youngster, but struggled through difficult dry periods between hits. He was married and divorced three times. In the 1970s, he lost his soul-mate and writing/performing partner, Peggy Clinger, to a drug overdose. Shaken by that tragedy, he conquered his own addictions and rediscovered his Christianity. Starting over, he left the West Coast and soon established himself as a writer of consequence in Nashville. Then, with ten solid years of creativity in Nashville, he suddenly died just two years before his 50th birthday. With his first wife Carol (known as "Cubby") whom he married in his late teens, he fathered two children: a girl, Kimberly, and a son, John, Jr. He maintained a close relationship with both throughout his life.
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