Jimmy Dean

Country singer Jimmy Dean had his first U.S. country Top 10 hit with 1953's "Bumming Around." After hosting The Jimmy Dean Show on the CBS television network, he signed to Columbia Records. In 1961 he wrote the classic "Big Bad John;" the song became a million-selling U.S. Number One and reached Number Two in the U.K. pop charts. Dean's easy-going, crooning style elegantly bridged the gap between pop and country music and in 1965 he had another Number One hit with "The First Thing Every Morning (And the Last Thing Every Night)." By the '70s, with his singing career on the wane, Dean began concentrating on a successful pork sausage manufacturing business.