Photo: William Morris Agency (management); photographer: James Kriegsmann, New York. / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I have a soft spot for Jimmy Clanton, the so-called swamp pop R&B teenage idol out of Raceland, Louisiana. Writing your own million-selling hit at twenty, as he did with Just a Dream in 1958, is no small feat, and the fact that it climbed to number four on the Billboard chart still impresses me. What I find compelling is the texture of that sound, humid, aching and unmistakably Southern, the kind of thing a polished modern studio can no longer quite reproduce. Eras label artists like him as relics, but he authored his own moment, and that earns my lasting respect.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Jimmy Clanton
- Name (Japanese)
- ジミー・クラントン
- Reading
- じみー・くらんとん
- Born
- September 2, 1938 (age 87)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Virgo / Tiger
- Origin
- Raceland, Louisiana, United States
- Occupation
- singer / songwriter / recording artist / musician
2. Background
- High school
- Baton Rouge Magnet High School
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Jimmy Clanton born?
Born September 2, 1938 (age 87).
Where is Jimmy Clanton from?
Jimmy Clanton is from Raceland, Louisiana, United States.
What does Jimmy Clanton do?
Jimmy Clanton works as singer, songwriter, recording artist, musician.
Singer — see all → · Songwriter — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.