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4 TV Game Show Hosts With Musical Side Gigs

May 11, 2015

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  • In 1968, the psychedelic duo the Avant Garde scraped into the top 40 with their song “Naturally Stoned.” One-half of the group: future game show host Chuck Woolery. In 1980, when he was hosting his first game show (Wheel of Fortune), Woolery returned to music, and cut three country music singles. “The Greatest Love Affair” and “Painted Lady” were minor hits.

 

  • Richard Dawson was an actor first, appearing in the classic WWII film The Longest Day and on Hogan’s Heroes from 1965 to 1971. In between Hogan’s and his time as a panelist on Match Game and hosting Family Feud in the ‘70s, he capitalized on his fame with a double-sided single. Neither “His Children’s Parade” or “Apples and Oranges” was a hit.

  • Burt Cony is best known for hosting a slew of game shows in the ‘70s and ‘80s, including Super Password, Tattletales, and Win, Lose, or Draw. Convy got his start as a Broadway performer in the 1960s—he was in the original casts of Cabaret and Fiddler on the Roof. Before that, in the ‘50s, he played minor league baseball, and had a side gig with a group called the Cheers. They had two top 20 hits: “(Bazoom) I Need Your Lovin’)” and “Black Denim Trousers.” #15, and #6

  • Tic Tac Dough host Wink Martindale just looks like a game show host, but his first success in entertainment was music. “Deck of Cards” was a top 10 hit in 1959. It’s a spoken word piece, over music, about soldiers playing cards in a church, and all the ingnumbers have religious significance. The lyrics have since become a popular inspirational email forward with lyrics attributed to “unknown.” (It was written in 1948 by country music star T. Texas Tyler.)