The Johnston Brothers were a vocal group who had a number one hit in the British pop charts in 1955 with their version of “Hernando’s Hideaway”.
The group was formed by Johnny Johnston (born John Reine, July 10, 1919 - d. June 10, 1998, London). He had formed a music publishing company, Michael Reine Music, in London in 1946, and was used by the BBC Light Programme radio channel as a singer and arranger. His first big success was to write and perform, with his vocal quartet The Keynotes, the theme to the successful comedy series “Take It From Here” in 1948. The Keynotes remained a popular singing group in Britain throughout the 1950s, winning several awards but having no hit records.
In 1949 Johnston formed an all-male singing trio, The Johnston Brothers, the other members being Alan Dean and Denny Vaughan (d. 1972). They won a recording contract with Decca Records, and had their first UK top ten hit in 1953 with “Oh Happy Day”. In November 1955, their version of “Hernando’s Hideaway”, from the movie “The Pajama Game”, reached the number one spot for two weeks, beating off the American hit versions by Johnnie Ray and Archie Bleyer. The Johnston Brothers had a number of smaller follow-up hits in the UK, including the medley “Join In And Sing Again” (1955) and “Heart” (1957), and also recorded with Joan Regan.
By 1956, Johnston had established Johnny Johnston Jingles Ltd., which was responsible for hundreds of advertising jingles in the early years of British commercial television, including “A million housewives every day pick up a can of beans and say - Beanz Meanz Heinz!”, “You can be sure of Shell”, and the first ever colour TV commercial in Britain, for Birds Eye peas in 1969. |
