Johnny Horton - North To Alaska

On this day in 1960 Johnny Horton recorded "North To Alaska".

 

John Gale Horton (April 30, 1925 - November 5, 1960), known professionally as Johnny Horton, was an American country music singer who was most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which launched the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. With them, he had several major crossover hits, most notably in 1959 with "The Battle of New Orleans" which won the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 was named number 333 of the Songs of the Century. In 1960, Horton had two other crossover hits with "North to Alaska," in John Wayne's hit film, North to Alaska; and "Sink the Bismarck". Horton was also a rockabilly singer, and was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

North to Alaska (German Title: Land der 1000 Abenteuer) is a 1960 comedic western directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne and Stewart Granger. The film script is based on the play Birthday Gift by Ladislas Fodor.

The film featured Johnny Horton's hit song of the same name. Though Horton had sung several popular movie tie-in songs, this was the first one that actually appeared in the film being sung over the opening titles.