- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Burnette was born to Willie May and Dorsey Burnett Sr. in Memphis, Tennessee. (The "e" at the end of his name was added later.) Johnny grew up with his parents and Dorsey Jr. ...
- ... in a public housing project in the Lauderdale Courts area of Memphis, which from 1948 until 1954 was also the home of Gladys and Vernon Presley and their son, Elvis.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: The younger brother of Dorsey Burnette, Johnny graduated from Memphis Catholic High School in 1952.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Both he and older brother Dorsey were also keen amateur boxers, and later became Golden Gloves champions.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: He tried his hand at becoming a professional boxer, but after one fight with a sixty-dollar purse and a broken nose or an encounter with Norris Ray, a top paycheck of $150, he decided to quit boxing.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: In 1952, the Burnette brothers ... formed a group called the Rhythm Rangers. Johnny sang and played acoustic guitar, Dorsey played bass and Paul Burlison played lead guitar. ...
- ... For economic reasons, the three moved to New York in 1956 and managed to get an audition for Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour. Winning the competition three times in a row...
- ... gained them a place in the finals and a recording contract with Coral Records. They renamed themselves the Rock and Roll Trio.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Money problems forced the R&R Trio to go on the road, for what seemed to be an endless stream of one-night stands. This exhausting regime led to squabbles, which were made worse in Dorsey's case...
- ... by their manager’s use of the name Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio on records and live dates. ...
- ... Things finally came to a head at a gig in Niagara Falls in autumn 1956, when, as a result of a fight, Dorsey quit the group a week before they were to appear in Alan Freed's film Rock, Rock, Rock.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Johnny Black, the brother of Elvis's bassist Bill Black, filled Dorsey's place. Despite the film appearance and three more single releases and one LP release, the group failed to achieve any chart success. The Rock and Roll Trio disbanded in autumn 1957.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Johnny and brother Dorsey Burnette (old squabbles apparently forgotten) camped out in front of Ricky Nelson's home in an attempt to have him record some of the songs they had written. ...
- <... Ricky Nelson finally met with them and was so impressed that he recorded the now classic million sellers "Waitin' In School", "Believe What You Say" and "It's Late".
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: After an unsuccessful attempt at reviving the Rock and Roll Trio, Dorsey and Johnny continued with their songwriting, but Dorsey kept his day job as an electrician to pay the family expenses.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: As the Burnette Brothers, they released one single, for Imperial Records, "Warm Love" backed with "My Honey", on May 5, 1958. It did not make the charts.
- ... but after this failure, they continued to work together as songwriters but began to follow separate careers as performing artists.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: In the fall of 1958, Johnny got a recording contract as a solo artist with Freedom Records, an offshoot of Liberty Records. He released three singles on this label: "Kiss Me" backed with "I'm Restless"...
- ... "Gumbo" backed with "Me and the Bear" and "Sweet Baby Doll" backed with "I'll Never Love Again". All of these songs except "Sweet Baby Doll" were written by Johnny. None of these records were hits.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: In mid-1959, the Freedom label was shut down, and Burnette moved to the parent Liberty label.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: At Liberty, Johnny’s solo career took off in 1960 with the million seller standards "Dreamin" and "You're Sixteen".
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: "Dreamin'" backed with "Cincinnati Fireball", released on May 4, 1960, reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 5 in Britain. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. ...
- ... His fourth Liberty single, "You're Sixteen" backed with "I Beg Your Pardon", released on October 5, 1960, did even better, reaching number 8 on the Hot 100 and number 3 in Britain and earned him another gold record.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: On September 27, 1961, He released "God, Country and My Baby" which reached No. 18 on the Hot 100, but was to be Burnette's last major American hit.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: Burnette gained prominence in 1973 both for the inclusion of "You're Sixteen" on the American Graffiti soundtrack and for...
- ... Ringo Starr's version of the same song. In addition, Burnette's original song was recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: One of his songs, "Train Kept A-Rollin", would later be recorded by the Yardbirds, Motorhead and Aerosmith.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: He was the father of 1980s rockabilly singer Rocky Burnette.
- Johnny Burnette Trivia: On August 14, 1964, his unlit fishing boat was struck by an unaware cabin cruiser on Clear Lake, California. The impact threw him off the boat and he drowned.
