John Fred

John Fred Gourrier (May 8, 1941 – April 15, 2005), best known as simply John Fred, was an American musician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was best known for the 1968 number-one single "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)". John Fred Gourrier was born on May 8, 1941 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of John Fred Gourrier Sr. and Miriam Chaisson. He had two sisters, Ann Gourrier Kleinpeter and Kay Gourrier Begue; and one son, Kevin Morris Gourrier. Standing at six feet five inches tall, Gourrier played basketball for Catholic High School. In 1956, at the age of fifteen, Gourrier formed the rhythm and blues band John Fred and the Playboys. Their first charting single was "Shirley", which featured instrumentation by Fats Domino's backing band. The track peaked at #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1959, leading to the Playboys appearing on Alan Freed's television show The Big Beat. However, Fred later turned down an invitation from Dick Clark to perform on American Bandstand due to his commitment to a high school basketball game. After a series of non-charting followup singles on the Montel label, the band split in 1961 when Fred attended college, where he lettered in basketball and baseball at Louisiana State University and Southeastern Louisiana University, winning two Gulf State Conference baseball championships with the latter in 1962 and 1963.