In the Spring of 1956, Paramount Pictures signed the rising King of Rock ‘n Roll, Elvis Presley to a three-picture movie deal. Not knowing what to do with their rocker, they promptly lent him out to 20th Century Fox for a picture being developed there, entitled The Reno Brothers. Elvis was cast as Clint Reno, the title was changed to Love Me Tender, they made a ton of money, and an idea was born in Hollywood. Suddenly, if a singer appeared on American Bandstand, he would be a likely candidate to become a cowboy star. Now sometimes this worked out — Elvis wasn’t bad in Love Me Tender, at least for a kid just jerked out of Tupelo, Mississippi. In fact, four years later he would make another Western — an excellent film, Flaming Star, under the direction of Don Siegel. Fabian, a teen idol off the street of Philadelphia did a more than credible job with the Duke and Stewart Granger in North to Alaska. However, along the way there were some miscues — rock ‘n rollers or pop singers who never should have moseyed out of the studio and into the Wild West. Here’s the list of the ten most unlikely Rock ‘n Roll Cowboys. Just like last issue’s Meanest Bad Guys, we’ll count ‘em down in descending order. In most of these cases, being a bad cowboy doesn’t dictate he’s a bad singer or rocker… just indicates a bad career move in the Old West.
10: Duane Eddy………………………..
9: Bobby Vinton………………………
8: Johnny Crawford…………………