Johnny Duncan (country singer)

Duncan died of a heart attack on August 14, 2006, at the age of 67. Duncan has three daughters: Angela, Lezlie and Lori with his first wife, Betty Deisher, and his son John “Ike” Duncan with wife Connie Duncan, who survived him.

Duncan's string of top-10 hits continued into 1979 – most notably a cover of Johnny Rivers' "Swayin' to the Music" (released by Duncan as "Slow Dancing") and "The Lady in the Blue Mercedes" – and he even enjoyed another top-20 hit with Fricke in 1980 with a duet version of Michael Jackson's "She's Out of My Life". His star power faded in the early 1980s with changing musical tastes, although his biggest songs were popular on country radio through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In the 1970s, Duncan performed duets with Janie Fricke, many of which were successful. Their songs "Stranger" and "Thinking of a Rendezvous" (both 1976), "It Couldn't Have Been Any Better" (1977), and "Come A Little Bit Closer" (1978, a remake of the song first made popular by Jay and the Americans) were the most successful. "Thinking of a Rendezvous" and "It Couldn't Have Been Any Better" both went to No. 1number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, as did Duncan's solo 1978 single "She Can Put Her Shoes Under My Bed Anytime".

In Franklin, Tennessee, Duncan worked as a DJ and performed on local morning TV shows. He began to record for Columbia Records in the late 1960s. Between 1967 and 1973, Duncan's recordings never reached the top 20 until "Sweet Country Woman" entered at number six.

After playing and singing with his musically gifted family for a few years, he auditioned demos in April 1959 for Norman Petty in Clovis. Petty recognized his talent as a gifted songwriter, and Duncan was signed to Leader Records, a subsidiary of the Kapp Records label. After three US singles and one UK release between 1959 and 1962 saw little action, Duncan grew tired of the intent to market him as a pop vocalist, and he decided to pursue the country genre and moved to Nashville.

John Richard Duncan (October 5, 1938 – August 14, 2006) was an American country music singer, best known for a string of hits in the mid- to late 1970s. In his career, he released 14 studio albums, including thirteen on Columbia Records. These albums produced more than 30 chart singles, with three of those reaching number one: "Thinkin' of a Rendezvous", "It Couldn't Have Been Any Better", and "She Can Put Her Shoes Under my Bed (Anytime)" from 1976, 1977, and 1978, respectively. Seven more of his singles were top-10 hits.