When Pat Boone turns 90 on June 1, it will be almost 70 years since he debuted on a Billboard chart. Back then, he was pushed as clean-cut counterprogramming to Elvis Presley — so successfully that he became bigger than the King, as measured by Billboard Hot 100 hits from the Aug. 4, 1958, debut of the chart through the end of the decade.
From his first hits to his recent work with veteran artists, Pat has always been a boon to Billboard . “Pat Boone, Dot’s new young find, comes off as a potential bobby sox grabber,” noted the May 21, 1955, Billboard when “Two Hearts” hit No. 16 on the Most Played in Juke Boxes chart.
After “Two Hearts,” Boone didn’t miss a beat: His cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” (hailed as a “flavorsome number” in the June 18, 1955, issue) became his first No. 1. “He is unassuming, generous and should go far,” predicted a retailer in the Aug.
20, 1955, issue. The July 9, 1955, Billboard described Boone as a “fledgling performer, a pleasant-looking lad who’ll do much better when he loosens up his platform manner.” The “Love Letters in the Sand” singer may have taken note.
A review of his Los Angeles concert in the June 19, 1961, issue hailed his “easy and relaxed patter.” “Hope this one brings us another gold record,” Boone said of “Moody River” at the show; in that same issue, it became his first No. 1 of the Hot 100 era.
Boone’s religious convictions eventually supplanted his pop aspira.
