John Hendry Blair (Johnny Cymbal) was born on February 3rd 1945 in Ochiltree, Ayrshire.
There isn’t much about his life in Scotland, but the family moved to Goderich, Ontario, then Cleveland, Ohio, Johnny was about 7 or 8 at the time, and if you listen to him speaking in the video here, he lost his accent altogether. He started singing at 13, taught himself the guitar, and later wore an assortment of musical hats: singer/songwriter, producer, and musical director, among others. People often thought Johnny Cymbal was a stage name, but that was not the case. At a young age, he was adopted by his mother’s second husband Nick (possibly Nikolas) Cymbal, who was a Polish national and a member of the Free Polish Forces stationed in Scotland during World War 2.
At 17, MGM Records signed John, now singing under the name Johnny Cymbal, it was at this age he wrote arguably his biggest hit, as in the video, Mr Bass Man, this was his signature tune throughout his career, in which he wrote over 200 songs. some of them recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Gene Pitney, Al Martino, and the Partridge Family. Probably his best known song is Rock me Baby which was a hit for David Cassidy.
Johnny Cymbal was twice married and twice divorced. He was alone when he died in his sleep of a heart attack on March 16, 1993 at the age of just 48. In accordance with his wishes, he was cremated and his ashes were spread at Lake Radnor in Nashville
