Jimmy Dean

小简介他曾是美国电视台上介绍乡村新星的系列节目主持人。
　　吉米·迪安原名Seth Ward，1928年8月10日出生于得克萨斯州的Plainview。他母亲曾教过他弹钢琴，不久他自己学了口琴和手风琴。18岁时他离家参加空军，驻在靠近华盛顿的空军基地。基地中有些人，下班后到夜总会去演奏音乐，有一次他们的小提手病了，就让迪安拉他的手风琴来代替。小提琴手病好了以后，他们还是将迪安留了下来。
　　退役后，迪安在维吉尼亚州Artington的WARL无线电台谋得一个演奏乡村音乐的位置。之后被华盛顿ABC电视台所接纳，1958又转到纽约CBS无线联网工作。
　　迪安也有着自己的录音事业。他1953年由Four Star唱片公司为他录过一曲《Bumming Around》。1957年他和哥伦比亚唱片公司签了约。
　　1961年，迪安到纳须维尔进行一期录音，当时他只准备了三支歌曲，为了配合出唱片，一期录音应当是四支歌曲。迪安将在飞机上刚写成的的《Big Bad John》加了进来。由于是为了凑数，《Big Bad John》只放在了唱片的B面。然而他失算了，实际上放在B面的《Big Bad John》却大受唱片骑师们的青睐，很快就成了一支热门曲。
　　迪安和哥伦比亚公司还合作出了其它几支热门曲。其中一曲《Cajun Queen》还带动了《Big Bad John》的二次销售，这连迪安自己也没想到，因为他本人不是很喜欢这支歌。还有1976年出的《I.O.U.》，这支销售超越百万张的歌曲，是为了纪念他母亲的。
　　迪安在乡村音乐上的成就，主要表现在ABC电视台上1963－1966年的系列节目上。曾在这个节目中出现的有Roger Miller、Roy Clark，还有Jim Henson的木偶狗Rowlf。时至今日，迪安仍然经常演出，此外在商业上也投入了相当的兴趣，如以他本身命名的肉食公司，为大众提供着猪肉香肠，另外还开有一系列家庭式餐馆。by Steve HueyThe average man on the street is most likely to recognize Jimmy Dean from the line of smoked sausage that bears his name, but prior to becoming a spokesman for pork products, Dean was a successful television personality and a country hitmaker noted for his half-spoken narrative songs. 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 ten, 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, D.C., base at which Dean was stationed, and when he left the service in 1948, he remained in the area and formed a new group called the Texas Wildcats. He eventually scored a record deal with Four Star, and his first hit, Bummin Around, reached the country Top Ten in 1953.During the mid-50s, Dean hosted a local television show devoted to country music, giving important early exposure to regulars Patsy Cline and Roy Clark. The show proved popular enough that CBS offered him his own national program in 1957, though it wasnt as successful. In the meantime, Dean signed with Columbia, and when his show was canceled, he recorded a series of singles for the label that didnt get much attention. That all changed when he recorded the self-penned Big Bad John in 1961. Establishing Deans flair for spoken narratives, the song went to number one on both the pop and country charts. He followed it with a string of popular singles in 1962: Dear Ivan, Little Black Book, and P.T. 109 (the latter about John F. Kennedys war exploits in the South Pacific) all made the country Top Ten, and the latter also made the pop Top Ten. Meanwhile, To a Sleeping Beauty and The Cajun Queen reached the country Top 20; all of Deans hits from this hot streak charted at least in the pop Top 40.In 1963, Dean returned to television as the host of his own daily variety show on ABC. Roger Miller became a regular, helping to jump-start his career, and the show also helped introduce America to another talent: puppeteer Jim Henson, whose regular appearances made Rowlf the piano-playing dog the first Muppet to become a household name. The Jimmy Dean Show ran until 1966, by which point Dean had switched labels to RCA; he returned to the country Top Ten that year with Stand Beside Me, and placed several more minor chart entries through 1971, leaving off with Slowly, a Top 40 duet with Dottie West. In the meantime, he developed an acting career, appearing as a regular on the TV series Daniel Boone during the late 60s, and landing the part of reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte in the 1971 James Bond flick Diamonds Are Forever.Dean had invested most of his showbiz earnings in hog-farming concerns, and founded the Jimmy Dean Meat Company in the late 60s. His sausage recipes soon turned into a popular mass-market product, and while he accepted the occasional guest acting role on TV during the 70s and 80s, he spent most of his time focusing on his burgeoning business. He recorded a bit more for Casino in 1976, landing a final Top Ten country hit that year with I.O.U., a narrative tribute to his mother. Dean eventually sold his meat company to Sara Lee Foods, but remained its chairman and TV spokesman, which kept him active and visible into the new millennium.