Born on This Day in 1929, One Half of “Mr. And Mrs. Country Music”—the Award-Winning Husband-Wife Duo Who Dominated the 60s 

Before there was Johnny and June, there was Johnny and Jonie. Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on this day (April 26) in 1929, Johnny Mosby recorded songs like “Tijuana Jail” and “Trouble in My Arms” with his second wife, Jonie Mosby. Their musical partnership lasted for a decade, sending 17 singles to the country music charts between 1963 and 1973.

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Johnny Mosby’s days as a paid performer started early, charging his dad and uncles a nickel per singing performance. He used the profits to buy ice cream.

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Before graduating high school, Mosby moved from Arkansas to Orange County, California. He returned to the Golden State after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, working in construction by day and playing Los Angeles venues by night. One of his earliest gigs was for Southern California car dealer Cal Worthington, who purchased air time every weekend for a three-hour live country music show on a Los Angeles radio station.

[RELATED: On This Day in 2018, We Lost One-Half of the Husband-Wife Duo Known as “Mr. And Mrs. Country Music”]

Johnny & Jonie Mosby, “Mr. And Mrs. Country Music”

After divorcing his first wife, Mosby met Janice Irene “Jonie” Shields at the famed Palomino Club in 1958 when she auditioned for his West Coast orchestra. Not only did he hire her, they tied the knot that same year. Shortly thereafter, they recorded their first single, “Just Before Dawn”, as Johnny and Jonie for Challenge Records.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1962, the couple scored their first charting single with “Don’t Call Me from a Honky Tonk,” which reached No. 13 on the country music charts in 1963. They followed that up with another Top 20 hit, “Trouble in My Arms”, which peaked at No. 12. Soon, they were known in the industry as “Mr. and Mrs. Country Music”, even winning two trophies from the Academy of Country Music.

Enjoying their peak during the mid-1960s, the Mosbys became regulars on country music TV shows like Louisiana Hayride, Big D Jamboree, and Grand Ole Opry. However, their success had begun to wane by the early 1970s. In 1973, Johnny and Jonie Mosby divorced after 15 years of marriage.

For more than 40 years, Johnny Mosby owned and operated the Ban-Dar, Ventura County’s original honky-tonk. Post-music, he was also a certified commercial pilot with his own construction company.

Johnny Mosby died on Feb. 19, 2018, at age 88.

Featured image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images