Profile of Johnny Burnette on Famous Like Me

Johnny Burnette (March 25, 1934 - August 14, 1964) was a Rockabilly pioneer in Memphis, Tennessee.

Johnny Burnette (vocalist), along with his brother Dorsey Burnette (bass) and their friend Paul Burlison (electric guitar), formed The Rock and Roll Trio in the early 1950s. The group later was renamed Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio after they added a drummer in late 1956. As The Rock and Roll Trio, the Burnette brothers, with Burlison, are credited for having coined the phrase "Rockabilly". If that weren’t enough to secure their place in rock and roll history, in May 1956, the Rock and Roll Trio arguably became the first rock and roll band to deliberately record a distorted "fuzztone" electric guitar sound (in "The Train Kept A Rollin’" and “Honey Hush”). (This assertion assumes, among other things, that Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88," recorded in 1951 using a fuzztone guitar sound, was not a rock and roll song, but rather a rhythm and blues song.)

Although they managed to get a recording contract, in 1957 the group split up due to a lack of commercial success, but while living in California in 1960 Burnette had a back-to-back major hits with songs he wrote titled "Dreamin" and "You're Sixteen", followed by "Little Boy Sad" a year later.

Johnny Burnette's career was cut short at the age of 30 when he drowned in a boating accident. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

His name and song-writing abilities gained prominence again when Ringo Starr released a cover of "You're Sixteen" in 1973.

• Burlison, Paul. Audio interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1454083

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