John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country music, honky tonk and rockabilly singer and musician, during the 1950s and early 1960s, best known for his saga songs that became international hits beginning with the 1959 single “The Battle of New Orleans“, which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording.[1] The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America‘s “Songs of the Century“. His first No. 1 country song was in 1959, “When It’s Springtime in Alaska (It’s Forty Below)“.
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Thanks for the memory. I loved Johnny Horton’s historical songs like North to Alaska, Sink the Bismark, Battle of New Orleans. I was about 9 when he died and how sad our whole family felt listening to the news on the radio.