Jud Strunk

Jud Strunk (born Justin Roderick Strunk, Jr., June 11, 1936—October 5, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter and comedian.

Jud Strunk
Background information
Birth nameJustin Roderick Strunk, Jr.
Born(1936-06-11)June 11, 1936
Jamestown, New York
DiedOctober 5, 1981(1981-10-05) (aged 45)
Carrabassett Valley, Maine
GenresCountry, pop
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsBanjo
Years active1973–1976
LabelsColumbia, MGM, MCA

Biography

Early years

Born Justin Roderick Strunk, Jr. in Jamestown, New York, he was raised in Buffalo, New York, where as a small boy his showmanship became evident. After he learned to play the banjo, Strunk began entertaining locals and went on to wide recognition after appearances on national television network shows such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Academic

He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1959 with a B.A in History.[1]

"Daisy A Day"
Main article: Daisy a Day

Although much of Strunk's material was humorous, his most popular song was not. "Daisy a Day", which Strunk wrote and recorded in 1973, is a gentle, sentimental ballad in 3/4 time, describing the relationship between a boy and girl who ultimately grow old together. For every day of their lives, he gives her a daisy as a sign of their love. In the last verse, she has died, but her widower husband continues to make daily visits to her grave. The song made the Billboard Top 20 on both the country and pop music charts. A cover version Een Roosje, M'n Roosje (A Rose, My Rose) by Conny Vandenbos reached No. 7 on the Dutch Top 40 hit list in 1974.

Laugh-In

Strunk was a regular member of the Laugh-In cast during its last season. He often reported fictitious sporting events "directly from Farmington, Maine".

Other material

Strunk also wrote three humorous songs that made it into the country music charts, and he toured with the Andy Williams Road Show. One of these songs, "The Biggest Parakeets in Town," was a tongue-in-cheek story of a woman who is a bird fancier. Its central joke is the unspoken pun of "parakeets/pair o'tits" used in the title. Other singles, such as "Next Door Neighbor's Kid" and the patriotic "My Country," appeared on various Billboard surveys. Strunk also scored a songwriting hit with "Bill Jones' General Store", the title track of his 1971 album of a similar name; Canadian musician Tommy Hunter charted in the top 20 on the country and adult contemporary charts in Canada with the song.

Last years and death

Strunk became a folk hero in Maine, and in 1970 narrowly lost the election for Senate seat in the state legislature. He was also a private pilot and purchased a 1941 Fairchild M62-A. On 5 October 1981,[2] he suffered a heart attack just after take-off in the aircraft at Carrabassett Valley Airport in Maine. The plane flipped over, falling some 300 feet, killing him instantly along with his passenger, Dick Ayotte, a longtime friend and local businessman. Jud was 45 years old.

Legacy

Jud's sons contribute to the Sugarloaf Community, with Jud's grandson performing onstage at The Rack on Sunday afternoons.

Discography

Albums
Year Album Chart Positions Label
US Country US
1970 Jud Strunk's Downeast Viewpoint — — Columbia Records
1971 Jones' General Store — — MGM Records
1973 Daisy a Day 18 138
1973 Mr. Bojangles And Other Favorites — — Harmony
1977 A Semi-Reformed Tequila Crazed Gypsy Looks Back — — MCA Records

Singles
Year Title Peak chart
positions		 Record Label B-side Album
US
Country		 US Pop US AC CAN
Country		 CAN Pop CAN AC
1970 "Children at Play" — — — — — — Columbia Records "Self-Eating Watermelon" Jud Strunk's Downeast Viewpoint
1971 "Bill Jones General Store" — — — — — — CoBurt Records "The Runaway" Jones General Store
1972 "Daisy a Day" 33 14 4 18 3 5 MGM Records "The Searchers" Daisy a Day
1973 "Next Door Neighbor's Kid" 86 — 22 85 — 50 "I'd Prefer to Do It All Again"
1974 "My Country" — 59 — — — — Capitol Records "The Will"
1975 "The Biggest Parakeets in Town" 51 50 — 20 71 — Melodyland Records "I Wasn't Wrong About You"
"Pamela Brown" 88 — — — — — "They're Tearing Down a Town"
gollark: > Global commands are cached for 1 hour. That means that new global commands will fan out slowly across all guilds, and will be guaranteed to be updated in an hour.That isn't inconvenient at all.
gollark: > Slash Commands and Interactions bring something entirely new to the table: the ability to interact with an application without needing a bot user in the guild. As you read through this documentation, you'll see that bot tokens are only referenced as a helpful alternative to doing a client credentials auth flow. Slash Commands do not depend on a bot user in the guild; responding to interactions does not require a bot token.Oh 🐝❗
gollark: Hmm, I think I'll turn on all the privileged intents to spite them.
gollark: AutoBotRobot still uses the old gateway or something and thus gets all data ever.
gollark: There is of course absolutely no way they can check.

References
  1. http://www.vmialumni.org/page.aspx?pid=206&reid=g%2fazM8Xz2z4%3d&bbsys=0&bbrt=0%5B%5D
  2. 1997-2013 PlaneCrashInfo.com. "Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents 1980s". Retrieved 25 July 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.