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Colt1861Navy

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Re: Colt1861Navy post# 809

Sunday, 07/07/2002 11:43:00 PM

Sunday, July 07, 2002 11:43:00 PM

Post# of 1767
Rock 'n' Roll Artists A-Z...Santo and Johnny

http://www.sleep-walk.com/

http://www.santoandjohnny.com/

http://www.sleepwalk-instrumental.com/

http://www.spaceagepop.com/santoand.htm

Santo & Johnny were two brothers from Brooklyn who had a huge number one instrumental hit in 1959 and several lesser hits.

Santo Farina was born in 1937 and his brother Johnny in 1941, both in Brooklyn, New York. Santo played steel guitar and Johnny played rhythm guitar. They wrote and recorded Sleep Walk and leased it to Canadian American Records in 1959. The song became an instrumental hit, and it reached the number one spot on the pop charts.

They followed Sleep Walk with five lesser entries on the charts from 1959 to 1964, the most successful of which was Tear Drop. They had some hit albums that featured their unique sound, including Santo & Johhny and Encore in 1960, and Hawaii in 1961.

This brother steel guitar (Santo) and acoustic guitar (Johnny) duo made pop history with their timeless instrumental, "Sleepwalk." Taking up the guitar in their early teens, the brothers wrote and recorded "Sleepwalk" for Trinity Records, a local Brooklyn label. After the song got some local play, it was leased to a larger label, Canadian-American, which took it national. In August 1959, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40 list. The brothers continued to record and perform until at least 1964. Mort Garson, later famed for his Moog albums, produced "Sleepwalk" and the brothers' first 6 albums.

As a boy Santo Farina listened frequently to the "Hometown Frolics," a country radio show. Through that association he came to love the sound of the steel guitar by the time he was teen. Santo convinced a neighborhood music store to modify and acoustic guitar to allow him to play it like a steel.

Santo was mesmerized with the sounds he could produce on his new guitar and practiced day and night. Within two years, he was performing for amateur shows on a new Gibson six-string steel guitar. Soon after, he acquired a steel guitar teacher who had learned the art in Hawaii.

In 1952, at the age of fourteen, Santo formed an instrumental trio with a guitarists and drummer. By this time he was composing songs as well as the hits of the day. He also included a few Hawaiian standards when the group played at local dances and parties. With money he made from performing he bought another steel guitar. This one had three necks, each with eight strings. He experimented with the additional two strings until he came up with tunings that appealed to him. It was at this time Santo began teaching his younger brother Johnny, to play accompaniment on a standard electric guitar. The Farina Brothers began to gather fans from Brooklyn to Long Island.

As their popularity grew locally they recorded a couple demo tapes. Johnny made the rounds of the New York record companies. The brothers came to the attention of a music publishing company and signed a song writer's contract. This lead to a contract with Canadian-American Records. Their first release "Sleep Walk" was composed by the brothers with help from their mother. After ten years of trying Santo was prepared for success. The brothers were booked on coast-to-coast tours and television shows. Their first album was a hit as was their second single, "Teardrop."

Their fame spread to other countries and they were booked on tours of Australia, Mexico and Europe. In the US, their record sales began to wane by the end of 1960. There was a resurgence of popularity in 1964 with an album of songs made famous by the Beatles. Canadian-American Records released a total of nine albums before it folded in 1965. In 1966, Santo and Johnny were briefly associated with United Artist Records, before switching to Imperial in 1967 on the strength of their international sales. In 1968, Imperial closed after the release of their fourth album.

By this time Santo and Johnny had a reputation worldwide, except in the United States. They continued to record, mostly for Italian labels, issuing albums filled with James Bond movie themes, Hawaiian songs, old standards, country music, light classics, and rock and roll hits. In 1976, the duo broke up with Santo continuing to record internationally.

Discography

Santo & Johnny, Canadian American SCALP-1001
Sleep Walk (also released as Encore), Canadian American SCALP-1002
Hawaii, Canadian American SCALP-1004
Come On In, Canadian American SCALP-1006
Around the World, Canadian American SCALP-1008
Offshore, Canadian-American SCALP-1011
In the Still of the Night, Canadian-Americal SCALP-1014
Santo & Johnny Wish You Love, Canadian-American SCALP-1016
The Beatles Greatest Hits Played by Santo & Johnny, SCALP-1017
The Brilliant Guitar Sounds of Santo & Johnny, Imperial LP-12363
Golden Guitars, Imperial LP-12366
On the Road Again, Imperial LP 12418
The Best That Could Happen, Imperial LP-12435
The Original Recordings, Black Tulip 2636424

http://cdnow.com/switch/from=sr-299258/target=buyweb_products/artfs=Santo+&+Johnny



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