Mitchell torok biography
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Torok made further recordings for Mercury, RCA, and Starday, and his last US chart entry was "Instant Love" for the Reprise label in 1967.
He had two later hits on the Billboard Hot 100; "Pledge of Love" hit No. 25 in 1957, and "Caribbean" hit again in 1959, peaking at No. 27.In 1960, "Pink Chiffon" peaked at No.
60. Hank Snow recorded "The Mysterious Lady From Martinique" on one of his last RCA albums, and "Redneck" was a top 20 hit for Vernon Oxford in 1976.
Torok joined Cedarwood Music in the late 1970s, and worked on a recording project telling the history of Nashville from 1780 to 1980. Hank Snow recorded Torok's songs: "Caribbean", "Dogbone", "My Arabian Baby" and "The Mysterious Lady From St.
Martinique" on one of his last RCA albums. "The Redneck National Anthem" was a top 20 hit for Vernon Oxford in 1976.
Combining his art and music, Torok was commissioned to paint a 110-foot, five-panel mural titled "The History of the Grand Ol' Opry", which was on display in the Ryman Auditorium until it was remodeled for live performances.
Torok was then signed to Abbott Records. (Torok, feeling the chances of Reeves' record hitting were small or non existent, planned to use the Jim Reeves record as a "demo" to send to Hank Snow.) Reeves had been hired to be an announcer on KWKH and the Hayride Show, but not allowed to sing. Gail passed away in Nashville in 1985 and Torok is now semi-retired on the coast of Texas, his home state where he still paints and is writing several albums.
Torok married Gail Redd, a beauty queen from Lufkin, Texas, in 1951.
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It was titled "Continental Roll Along" and was used as a promotional recording given to company employees to celebrate the company's 100th birthday.He also recorded his first session in Houston with a duet partner named Sally Lee.
These masters later wound up on Imperial Records. In 1960, "Pink Chiffon", also on Jamie/Guyden peaked at No. 60 and in 1996 this song was used as main title music in RKO Pictures movie Laura Smiles (2006).
Torok continued to write songs, working in partnership with his wife (who has used both "Gayle Jones" and "Ramona Redd" as pseudonyms, the latter being her maiden name).
Torok's song was titled "Mexican Joe" and, when Reeves was finally offered a chance to sing one number, it became a huge number one hit (six encores) and spent seven weeks riding the top of the Billboard Country Music Charts. He minored in world history and graduated with a degree in art and journalism.
In 1948, Torok enrolled at Stephen F. Austin College in Nacogdoches, Texas on a baseball and football scholarship. Torok was signed with Abbott; and later that year, he had a number one hit in both the Billboard country and jukebox charts with "Caribbean". This success led to him to tour the UK in 1957. A month later wrote his own number one hit that became popular in both the Billboard Country and Jukebox charts, and remained at the top for four weeks.
It has been shown in Nashville, in Branson, and recently in Las Vegas, and has been signed by over 50,000 Elvis fans.
Mitchell and his writing-partner, wife Gail also created a tribute to Nashville's 200th birthday while writing for Cedarwood Music, with a 12-song LP recording titled Nashville, filled with songs based on Music City's colorful history.
And they also wrote, produced and performed on a Texas history album, titled The Ballads of Texas. and Clint Eastwood, who sang their song, "No Sweeter Cheater than You" in the Warner Brothers Honky Tonk Man movie.
Torok was signed with Abbott; and later that year, he had a number one hit in both the Billboard country and jukebox charts with "Caribbean". Torok has also written a book and accompanying CD, titled Jim Reeves, Me & Mexican Joe, which tells the story of how the song made its way to Reeves. He then created the "Elvis-a-Rama", which consisted of a 12-foot-high, 125-foot-long mural with a 22-minute light and music show depicting his life, from his truck driving days in Memphis to his death in 1977.
Impressed by the rolling East Texas hills, Mitch recorded two singles for the FBC label in Rosenberg, the "Nacogdoches County Line" and the "Piney Woods Boogie".
One of Torok's idols, Hank Williams, died suddenly on January 1, 1953. This success led to a four-month tour of the United Kingdom in 1956, headlining in all the old famous vaudeville houses in England, Ireland and Scotland, including the London Palladium.