About Johnny Smith
Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. == Early life == During the Great Depression, Smith's family moved from Birmingham, Alabama, where Smith was born, through several cities and ending up in Portland, Maine. He taught himself to play guitar in pawnshops, which let him play in exchange for keeping the guitars in tune. At 13 he was teaching others to play the guitar. One of his students bought a new guitar and gave him his old guitar, which became the first guitar Smith owned. Smith joined Uncle Lem and the Mountain Boys, a local hillbilly band which traveled around Maine, performing at dances, fairs, and similar venues. He earned four dollars a night. He dropped out of high school to accommodate the enterprise.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.