(184) PAT BOONE MIGHT'VE BEEN ELVIS' BIGGEST COMPETITOR ! 12 GOLD RECORDS BY 1961

My voice had once been compared to his...You may find this hard to believe today, but there was one person who was better liked during the early Rock and Roll era by the general public than Elvis, and that was Pat Boone, who never did have that dark edge of a Rock-a-billy artist that Elvis had and had a wider audience.

Now friends, we're still in the cover tune era here, so you'll find if you look at who recorded what and when you'll find that songs that Pat recorded were later recorded by other artists we mention. For instance, Pat recorded "Moody River," in 1961 and the next year Johnny Burnette recorded it. So do you think I was pitching songs to Pat?

You'd better believe it. Pat started his own publishing company called Cooga Mooga! (Guess who eventually did some work for Pat there?)

Here's Pat on the Lawrence Welk show singing "Moody River," and then Johnny Burnette's 1962 version, as presented by YouTube video-ers. As Lawrence mentions, Pat had 12 Gold Records by the time he did this show.

Pat Boone on the Welk singing "Moody River."

Johnny Burnette covering "Moody River," (and sounding very Elvis-like.)

Now a little later, when Frank Sinatra gets his own label, Reprise, he records "Moody River" too. Here's his swinging 60's version. My co-worker at American Music, Jimmy Bowen went to Reprise as Frank's producer.

No replacement for Johnny Burnette. Frank's version of "Moody River." VIDEOS RELACED APRIL 2011