Most people will likely recognize Jimmy Dean from the popular line of breakfast sausage that bears his name. But prior to making his fortune in pork products, he rose to fame as a successful country music singer and beloved television personality.
Dean parlayed the success of his 1961 crossover hit “Big Bad John” into his own primetime variety series, which he hosted from 1963 to 1966. He also landed acting roles in NBC’s Daniel Boone series, as well as the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, starring Sean Connery.
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Today, we’re honoring the extraordinary life and legacy of Jimmy Ray Dean, born in Seth Ward, Texas, on this day (August 10) in 1928.
Jimmy Dean Began His Musical Career in the Military
Raised in nearby Plainview—the Texas Panhandle town where he would open his meat company in 1969—Jimmy Dean learned to play piano from his mother, Ruth.
From there, he also picked up the guitar, harmonica, and accordion.
Dropping out of high school after ninth grade, Dean tried his hand at irrigation farming before joining the Merchant Marines at 17.
After just one year of service, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force—where his musical career would first take off.
While stationed at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., Dean filled in on accordion for a band called the Tennessee Haymakers after their fiddle player fell ill. When the fiddle player recovered, the band decided to stick with Dean instead.
Building His Audience
After leaving the military in the early 1950s, he married his first wife, Mary Sue, and formed a band called Jimmy Dean and the Texas Wildcats.
Signing with the label 4 Star, the band scored a number-five hit in 1953’s “Bumming Around”.
In May of that same year, Jimmy Dean made his Grand Ole Opry debut. The following year, he began hosting the Washington, D.C., radio program Town and Country Time, where country stars like Patsy Cline and Roy Clark got their starts.
The popularity of Town and Country Time led to the singer hosting his own CBS-TV program, The Jimmy Dean Show. While it wasn’t quite as successful, Dean signed with Columbia Records. Following the show’s cancellation, he recorded a string of pop singles—none of which received much commercial traction.
“Big Bad John”
Chart success arrived in 1961 with “Big Bad John”. Jimmy Dean penned the tale about a mysterious, quiet miner who stands 6’6″, weighs 245 pounds, and hails from New Orleans, where he once “got in a fight over a Cajun Queen.”
Selling more than one million copies, “Big Bad John” spent five weeks atop the Billboard pop chart and two weeks on the country chart. It also won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.
Showcasing the singer’s knack for storytelling, “Bad Bad John” inspired a flood of “saga songs”, which usually centered on larger-than-life characters who performed heroic acts.
[RELATED: 6 Classic Country Songs that Tell Powerful Stories]
Making His Fortune Outside Country Music
Jimmy Dean’s country music success continued, landing a second number-one country hit with 1965’s “The First Thing Ev’ry Morning (And the Last Thing Ev’ry Night)”.
In 1969, he founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company with his brother, Don. Boosted by commercials that capitalized on his obvious homespun charm, the company thrived.
In 1984, he sold the company to the Sara Lee Corporation for $80 million.
On June 13, 2010, Jimmy Dean died at his home in Varina, Virginia, at age 81.
Four months later, he was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October 2010.
Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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Willie Nelson and Toby Keith performs "Beer for My Horses" at the 38th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards (Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage) -
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Mel Tillis Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images -
American musician and bassist, Marshall Grant smiling while recording songs for Johnny Cash's The Last Gunfighter Ballad album at Sound Spectrum Recording, Inc., also known as the House of Cash Studios in Nashville, Tennessee 1976. Photo is part of the Nashville Music Collection. (Photo by Al Clayton/Getty Images).
