Pat Boone

Pat Boone (born June 1, 1934, Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.) is an American singer and television personality known for his wholesome pop hits in the 1950s and for hosting evangelical radio and television programs later in life.

Career in the 1950s: Teen idol and “Mr. Nice Guy”

Boone began performing in public at a young age. After winning a local talent show in the early 1950s, he appeared on television variety shows—first Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour and then Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts. He released “Two Hearts, Two Kisses,” the first of his singles on the Dot Records label, in 1955. That same year Dot released “Ain’t That a Shame,” Boone’s cover of an R&B song originally recorded by Fats Domino; Boone’s version reached the top of the charts. Other hits followed, many of which were first recorded by African American artists, including Little Richard, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Big Joe Turner. Among these were “Long Tall Sally” (1956) and “Tutti Frutti” (1956).

Boone’s popularity in the 1950s rivaled that of Elvis Presley’s. For many fans, he offered a clean-cut alternative to the rebellious rock and roller, although Boone maintained that he and Presley were friends who admired each other’s careers and music. When Boone graduated from Columbia University in 1958 with a degree in speech and English, he appeared on the cover of TV Guide in his cap and gown. In 2022 he reflected on his early image to The DeSoto Times-Tribune:

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I was the All-American guy. I was doing all the right things in my life and obeying all the rules of the 1950s.…[Elvis] was breaking a lot of them and winning big. He was Mr. Excitement, and I was…yawn. And yet I was still a teen idol. “Nice” was what I was trying to escape. I tried to escape being called that “nice Pat Boone.”

From 1957 to 1960, Boone hosted the weekly television variety program The Pat Boone–Chevy Showroom. He appeared in several popular films, including April Love (1957), the science-fiction movie Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), and the musical State Fair (1962), in which he starred with fellow teen idols Bobby Darin and Ann-Margret.

Shift to gospel and country music

Boone’s popularity as a pop artist began to wane in the early 1960s when the British Invasion made his soft version of rock music unpopular with young audiences; his last major hit was “Speedy Gonzales,” released in 1962. He returned to hosting variety television with several short-lived shows in the late 1960s, including The Pat Boone Show and Pat Boone in Hollywood. An autobiography, A New Song, was published in 1970. Boone’s albums Pat Boone Sings the New Songs of the Jesus People (1972) and The Pat Boone Gospel Collection (1978) were among those that signaled his transition away from pop and toward gospel music in the 1970s. He also tried his hand at country music with the albums Texas Woman (1976) and The Country Side of Pat Boone (1977).

Starting in the 1980s, Boone hosted radio programs such as The Pat Boone Show and television programs, including Pat Boone USA, which appeared on a Christian cable network. The programs featured a blend of contemporary Christian music and talk.

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An unlikely shock rocker

Boone shocked and amused religious and secular audiences alike with an uncharacteristic heavy metal album, In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, released in 1997 and promoted with an appearance on the American Music Awards in which he wore a leather vest with no shirt and fake tattoos and stood alongside rocker Alice Cooper.

In 2002 Boone was conscripted to sing a cheery version of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” as the theme song of the hit reality TV show The Osbournes. (For a time, he and Osbourne had been neighbors in Beverly Hills, California. On one memorable episode of The Osbournes, the Osbourne family members spoke about him with affection.)

Later career

In the early 2000s Boone formed his own record label, The Gold Label, representing artists such as the Ventures and Sha Na Na. He also released his own music on the label, including the patriotic American Glory (2002) and an album of love songs, Near (2011). He later issued Legacy (2014), a collection of original religious songs. In another change of direction, he then recorded R&B Duet Hits (2015). In 2020 Boone released his reading of his own book The Miracle of Prayer (1989) as well as another album of devotional readings, Footprints of God.

In 2025 Boone broke a record for the artist with the longest span of time (more than 63 years) between appearances on the Billboard adult contemporary chart. His first time on that list was on July 17, 1961, with “Moody River”; on April 12, 2025, the charity single “One: Voices for Tanzania,” on which he sings, entered the chart.

Personal life

Boone married Shirley Foley, the daughter of country singer Red Foley, in 1953. His wife died in 2019. They had four daughters, one of whom, Debby Boone, is best known for her 1977 number-one hit “You Light Up My Life.”