Guy Mitchell

Mitchell was born Albert Cernik to Croatian immigrants in Detroit, Michigan. The family moved when he was 11 to Los Angeles where he was signed by Warner Brothers Pictures, to be a child star, and performed on the radio on KFWB in Los Angeles, California.[1] However, his career as a child star failed to take off, and the family moved to San Francisco where, after leaving school, he worked as a saddlemaker, supplementing his income by singing. Dude Martin, who had a country music broadcast in San Francisco, hired him for his band.[1]

Cernik served in the United States Navy for two years in World War II, then sang with Carmen Cavallaro's big band. In 1947 he recorded for Decca with Cavallaro's band, but left due to food poisoning. He went next to New York City and made records for King Records as Al Grant (one, "Cabaret", appeared in the Variety charts). He won on the radio show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in 1949 as a soloist.[3]

Mitch Miller, in charge of talent at Columbia Records, noticed Cernik in 1950. Cernik joined Columbia and took his new stage name at Miller's urging. Mitch Miller originally had intended to record a sentimental ballad called "My Heart Cries for You" and "The Roving Kind" with Frank Sinatra, however, Sinatra was not interested and rejected the songs selected for him to record that day. Given that Miller had already booked the musicians for the recording session, he invited Cernik to come in the evening as a replacement to record the songs. The recording went well, and Miller then told him that he should change his name as Miller could not pronounce the name Cernik. Initially reluctant, he then took Miller's name Mitchell, and added Guy as he liked to say "Hi, Guy" in reply to other people's "Hello", and became Guy Mitchell for the record release.[4] "My Heart Cries for You" became Mitchell's first hit song, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard charts.[5]

After "My Heart Cries for You", he had a number of other hits including "Heartaches by the Number", "Rock-a-Billy" (a crossover into the rock and roll field), and "The Same Old Me". His biggest hit was "Singing the Blues", which was number one for 10 weeks in 1956.[6] Bob Merrill wrote a number of hits for Mitchell.[7]

In the 1950s and 1960s Mitchell acted in such movies as Those Redheads From Seattle (1953) and Red Garters (1954).[1] He appeared in "Choose a Victim", a 1961 episode of Thriller.

Mitchell's popularity waned in the 1960s, although he continued to record songs for a number of labels. In 1990, he appeared in several episodes of the BBC drama series Your Cheatin' Heart as the fictional country singer Jim Bob O'May, singing several standards including his own hit "Singing the Blues".[1]

Mitchell died on July 1, 1999, aged 72, at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada of complications from cancer surgery.[8][9]

In 2007, to commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday, the English division of SonyBMG released The Essential Collection CD. His song "Heartaches by the Number" was part of the soundtrack of the 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas.[10]

• "My Heart Cries for You" (1950)[16]
• "The Roving Kind" (1951)[16]
• "My Truly, Truly Fair" (1951)[16]
• "Sparrow In The Treetop" (1951)[16]
• "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" (1952)[16]
• "She Wears Red Feathers" (1953)[16]
• "Belle, Belle, My Liberty Belle" (1951)
• "Feet Up (Pat Him On The Po-po)" (1952)
• "Heartaches by the Number"[16] (1959)
• "Knee Deep in the Blues" (1957)
• "Look At That Girl" (1953)
• "Ninety Nine Years (Dead or Alive)" (1956)
• "Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie" (1953)
• "Rock-a-Billy" (1957)
• "The Same Old Me" (1960)
• "Singing the Blues" (1956)
• "The Roving Kind" (1950)
• "Cloud Lucky Seven" (1953)
• "Unless" (1951)

In February 1982 he re-recorded 20 of his popular songs with new musical backings (in stereo) at the Audio Media Studio in Nashville, Tennessee for Bulldog Records (No. BDL 2041 in the UK). The album was entitled "20 Golden Pieces of Guy Mitchell" (not to be confused with "20 Golden Greats" by Mitchell released in 1979). The songs on the album are:-

• Guy Mitchell Appreciation Society site, belle49.freeserve.co.uk
• Guy Mitchell obituary
• Biodata, "The Interlude Era" site], earthlink.net
• Guy Mitchell at IMDb