Candy Johnson (February 8, 1944 – October 20, 2012) was an American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

and

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

who appeared in several films in the 1960s.

Biography

She was born on 8 February 1944 as Vicki Jane Husted in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

to Jeannette 'Jeanne' N. Rathmann and Clarence William Husted. After her mother remarried, she took her stepfather's surname of Johnston. She attended and graduated from

San Gabriel High School San Gabriel High School (SGHS) is a public high school located in Los Angeles County, California and operated by the Alhambra Unified School District. It is almost entirely in the city limits of Alhambra with a small portion in the city limits of ...

, in whose yearbooks she is listed simply as "Candy Johnston", and she subsequently changed her name professionally to Candy Johnson. Her mother, who, according to Candy's half-brother Jon Johnston was a dancer in her own right, was herself the sister of two famous Indy 500 racers, Royal 'Jim' Rathmann and Jim 'Dick' Rathmann. Her most notable films are several

beach party ''Beach Party'' is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience.Smith, Gary A. Smith (2009) ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland p.2 ...

productions by

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fil ...

, in which she played Candy, a girl who could dance so hard it would literally knock the guys off their feet. In ''

Beach Party ''Beach Party'' is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience.Smith, Gary A. Smith (2009) ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland p.2 ...

'' (1963) she is credited as the "perpetual motion dancer." She remained a part of the series for the next three films, with her last appearance being in 1964 in '' Pajama Party'', where she had a small cameo role. She also recorded under the name "Candy Johnson and her Exciters." The Exciters were a band her agent (and future husband) Red Gilson managed and partnered her with. The recordings of Candy and the Exciters were released by Canjo records, a private label started by Johnson and Gilson in 1964 to capitalize on her club and film appearances. Canjo was in business for only one year and released two albums and seven singles. She also appeared at the

1964 World's Fair The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair was a world's fair that held over 140 pavilions and 110 restaurants, representing 80 nations (hosted by 37), 24 US states, and over 45 corporations with the goal and the final result of building exhibits o ...

in Flushing,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. After seeing her show, the New York rock group

The Strangeloves The Strangeloves were a band created in 1964 by the New York-based American songwriting and production team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Gottehrer. They initially pretended to be from Australia. The Strangeloves' most succe ...

were inspired to write their hit single "

I Want Candy "I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by the Strangeloves in 1965 that reached No. 11 in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat. Original version "I Want Candy" wa ...

," which reached #11 on the Billboard charts. The song would be rerecorded by a number of artists over the following decades, including

The Tremeloes The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, England. They initially found success in the British Invasion era with lead singer Brian Poole, scoring a UK chart-topper in 1963 with "Do You Love Me". After Poole's departu ...

Bow Wow Wow Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band behind 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on vocals. They released their debut EP '' Your Cassette ...

and

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

. Candy retired from performing in 1968 and subsequently led a private existence, eventually settling in

Corona, California Corona ( Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and nor ...

. At the request of friends, she attended a special showing of ''Beach Party'' at a Los Angeles theatre in 2006. When the film ended, the organizer of the event announced to the crowd that Candy was in attendance. She rose to take a bow and received a standing ovation. After being diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2012, she remained in a Corona, California convalescent hospital, where she died of the disease in her sleep at age 68 on October 20, 2012. She was cremated and her remains brought to outer space on 21 June 2013, by the Houston-based extraterrestrial-burial company

Celestis Celestis, Inc. is a company that launches cremated human remains into space, a procedure known as a space burial. It is a subsidiary of the private space company Space Services Inc. The company purchases launches as a secondary payload on va ...

References

External links

* * http://www.candyjohnson.com
Candy Johnson and (the/her) Exciters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Candy 1944 births 2012 deaths American women singers Jazz-blues musicians American female dancers Dancers from California Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in California Neurological disease deaths in California 21st-century American women