Mitchell Torok
| Mitchell Torok | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 28, 1929 Houston, Texas |
| Genres | Country |
Mitchell Torok (born October 28, 1929) is an American country music singer, songwriter, artist, author and guitarist, best known for his 1953 hit "Caribbean". Torok married East Texas award winning beauty Queen Gail Redd, from Lufkin, Texas in 1951.Torok also wrote MEXICAN JOE' which catapultated unknown Jim Reeves into world wide stardom almost overnight.They began to write together and charted many top 20 hits. Torok . charted in 1957 with the song "Pledge Of Love", written by Gail, which reached No.the top 20 in the Billboard pop charts. He scored again in 1959 with an updated version of "Caribbean" (#27 on Billboard). The Mitch and Gail team also charted with the REDNECK NAT' ANTHEM BY Vernon Oxford in '76, and top 20 with Jerry Wallace and their song THIS ONE'S ON THE HOUSE, and Bill Phillips hit the top 29 country charts with I CAN STAND IT ( as long as she can) on Decca Records. In 1960, his recording of "Pink Chiffon" topped out at No. 60 on Billboard. Torok's last chart record was INSTANT LOVE in 1965, produced by West coast reprise Record producer Jimmie Bowen. Bowen
Torok was born in Houston, Texas, to Hungarian immigrants Niklos and Irene Torok, with an older brother named William. He was playing guitar by the age of 12, and attended Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas from 1948 through 1953, on a football and baseball scholarship. He majored in art and minored in world history and graduated with a bachelor's degree in art and journalism. Torok played baseball with a team from Garrison, Texas (the Bulldogs) and also pitched for the Minden Redbirds in Minden, Louisiana, during the summer of 1950. During that period, known for his guitar playing and singing in Houston, he was also hired to write a special song for the Conoco Oil Company in Houston. It was titled "Continental Roll Along" and was used as a promotional recording given to company employees to celebrate the company's 100th birthday.
He also recorded his first session in Houston with a duet partner named Sally Lee, masters of which later wound up on Imperial Records. Torok enrolled in Stephen F. Austin College in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1948, on a baseball and football scholarship. During the next two years, he performed his own morning radio show on KSFA and KFRD, in Rosenberg and KTRE in Lufkin. Impressed by the rolling East Texas hills, Mitch recorded two singles for the FBC label in Rosenberg, the "Nacogdoches County Line" and the "Piney Woods Boogie".
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