Johnny Maddox

Trivia

• Upon hearing him play in 1952, W.C. Handy is reported to have called Maddox "the white boy with the colored fingers."
• In 1954, Maddox was voted America's Number One Jukebox Artist by the Music Operators Association.
• An avid collector of ragtime memorabilia, he has amassed a collection of over 30,000 records, wax cylinders, and piano rolls, as well as a sheet music collection of over 200,000 pieces, some 3,000 of which he claims to have committed to memory.
• Maddox has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• In 1955 Maddox recorded "The Crazy Otto Medley," made up of pieces written by German comic performer Fritz Schulz-Reichel under the persona Otto der Schrage.
• During his career with Dot and MCA, Johnny recorded 50 albums and 87 singles. From these he racked up nine gold records with total record sales of over 11,000,000.
• His very first single "Crazy Bone Rag" with "St. Louis Tickle” on the flip side sold over 22,000 copies in five weeks. He continued to record for Dot through its acquisition by MCA into the 1970’s.
• Maddox became the first artist to record for Dot Records, and his instant first success helped build the label into one of the most successful labels in the 1950’s.
• In 1950 Maddox worked with his friend, Randy Wood, at Randy’s Record Shop in Gallatin when Randy launched Dot Records.
• His interest in the era of ragtime and blues was fueled by his Aunt Zula.