R.I.P.: Jack Scott, Singer-Songwriter

Country, pop and rockabilly singer-songwriter Jack Scott has died at age 83.

Long a cult favorite among record collectors, Scott originated such country classics as “Burning Bridges” and “What In the World’s Come Over You.” He was among the first to record a tribute album of Hank Williams songs.

Born Giovanni Scafone Jr. in Windsor, Ontario, he moved to the Detroit area with his family when he was 10. As a teenager, he formed a country band called The Southern Drifters and began singing the hits of Webb Pierce, Carl Smith, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams in the honky-tonks of Michigan and Ontario.

When Elvis Presley exploded in popularity in 1956, Jack Scott became a rockabilly convert. In 1957, he recorded the bopping “Baby She’s Gone,” and it became a hit in the Detroit area. The song remains a favorite with rockabilly aficionados, and Scott opened his shows with it throughout his life.

Scott retitled his rockabilly scorcher “Greaseball” to become “Leroy.” That song, paired with the teen ballad “My True Love,” became his first national hit in 1958. During the next five years, Jack Scott would hit the pop charts with 20 titles, almost all of which he solo wrote.

According to Musicrow, Scott’s singles usually had a hit ballad on one side and a rockabilly tune on the flip. His rockabilly “B-sides” of 1958 also included “Geraldine” and “Save My Soul.” In early 1959, he scored a second big hit with the doo-wop tune “Goodbye Baby (Bye Bye).”

His next success was 1959’s tough, bluesy “The Way I Walk.” It was later recorded by The Cramps, Robert Gordon, Link Wray, Guitar Wolf, The Swamp Zombies and country’s The Starlight Drifters.

Jack Scott scored a major, top-10 smash with 1960’s “What In the World’s Come Over You.” Sonny James made this song a top-10 country hit in 1975. It has also been revived by Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Wanda Jackson and Tom Jones, among others.