Lee sang ‘Lookin’ for Love’
This week in 1981: The White House predicted a record 1982 deficit of $109 billion; NATO reached an accord on the admission of Spain; doctors officially identified a disturbing disease that had no known cure: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS; and a singer from Texas City, Texas, had his 12th hit record and his 3rd No. 1.
A lot of hit songs started out as album cuts. And Johnny Lee’s 1981 No. 1, “Bet Your Heart On Me,” was one of those songs
The song was written by Jim McBride and became the title song for Lee’s album of the same title.
The Full Moon Records single came on the country music charts Oct. 3, 1981 and was at the top of the charts on December 5th.
It was his 12th charted song and his 3rd No. 1.
Johnny Lee was born John Lee Ham in 1946 and was raised in Alta Loma, Texas.
While in high school, he formed a band he called The Road Runners. He also played in various rock bands during the 1960s.
Between 1975 and 1989, he placed 31 songs on the country music charts, including five No. 1s.
His 31 charted songs included duets with Charlie Daniels, Michael Martin Murphy and Lane Brody.
Following a stint in the U.S. Navy, he bounced around from gig to gig from Texas to California before becoming part of Mickey Gilley’s band as a backup vocalist and trumpet player.
When the movie “Urban Cowboy” began shooting in Texas, the producers gave Lee a small part and asked him to record a song for the soundtrack. The song he was given for the soundtrack was “Lookin’ for Love,” which was a No 1 hit in 1980.
When his recording career began to fade, he continued touring in Texas and the Southwest. In 2008, he began performing regularly in Branson, Missouri. He and Gilley reunited in 2015 for a concert tour celebrating the 35th anniversary of the release of “Urban Cowboy.”