Sammy Johns

Singer/songwriter Sammy Johns was born February 7, 1946, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He received his first guitar as a present from his father at age nine. He started his own band, called The Devilles, while still in his teens. The Devilles lasted from 1963 to 1973, 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, which released his debut album "Early Morning Love" in 1974. The titular track was a minor Billboard chart hit. He scored his biggest 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 low-brow Crown International teen exploitation comedy romp The Van (1977); 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 (2004)). Alas, his follow-up single, "Rag Doll", was only a modest success. However, Johns went on to become a successful songwriter whose compositions were covered by several popular country singers. John Ellison 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 sang 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." Johns recorded the comeback album "Honky-Tonk Moon" in 2000. Johns died on January 4, 2013, at age 66 at Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia, North Carolina.