Jimmy Dean ~ Drinking From My Saucer

Jimmy Dean 1928 ~2010 Jimmy Dean, a country music legend for his smash hit “Big Bad John,” and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died Sunday at his Henrico County, Virginia home. He was 81. Dean was born Seth Ward in Plainview, TX, in 1928, and grew up poor, often working on farms as a boy to help make ends meet. His mother taught him piano starting at age 10, and he went on to pick up guitar, harmonica, and accordion. He joined the Merchant Marines at age 16, and after two years he enlisted in the Air Force, where he first performed publicly with a band called the Tennessee Haymakers. The Haymakers played venues near the Washington, DC, base at which Dean was stationed. When he left the service in 1948, he remained in the area and formed a new group called the Texas Wildcats. In 1953, he landed a record deal with Four Star, and charted his first Billboard hit that year with “Bummin’ Around.” His big break came when Columbia Records signed him to a contract in 1961. Dean soon catapulted to the top of the charts with “Big Bad John.” The song which is about a coal miner, who saves fellow workers when a mine roof collapses, went to No. 1 on both the pop and country charts in 1961. It became his signature song and won a Grammy. Jimmy followed it with a couple of popular singles in 1962; “Dear Ivan” and “Little Black Book.” Meanwhile, “To a Sleeping Beauty,” Dear Ivan, PT 109 and” The Cajun Queen” reached the country Top 20 1962. He followed with The First Thing Ev …