Most folks alive today know Jimmy Dean through his eponymous brand of sausage, which he started making in 1969, later selling the brand to Sarah Lee in 1984.
But before becoming a manufacturer and spokesman, Dean had a career in music. His career started with the song "Bumming Around" in 1953, but it was "Big Bad John," recorded in Nashville in 1961 that became his signature hit.
More detail than you might want to know in the New York Times
