​Pat Boone: Proudly square

Singer Pat Boone had an appreciative listener in Shirley Jones in the 1957 film, "April Love" -- and he still has plenty of loyal fans today, despite a certain reputation for which he makes no apology. This morning Tracy Smith talks to a legend:

Singer Pat Boone has been called "square" all his life. Does it bug him?

"That's me," he told Smith. "I wrote a song once, 'Are there any more squares out there? Folks that believe in the Golden Rule, help me prove I'm not a doggone fool. Are there any more squares out there?'

"I am a square, okay? And there are a lot of squares out there who think like I do."

"So you're proudly square?

"I am a proud square. Four square!"

Here's what being square can do for you. Pat Boone turned 81 this month. Seems like all those years of clean living have kept him looking like the golden boy he once was, with the name everyone knew.

For most of the 1950s, Pat Boone was it -- a clean-cut, milk-drinking icon, from his gleaming white teeth to his trademark white shoes.

It could even be argued that, in the 50s, he was bigger than Elvis. "Well, briefly, I was," Boone said. "When Elvis hit, he was my opening act the first time we met."

In 1955, DJ Bill Randle signed them both for a show in Cleveland. Boone met Elvis backstage, and was not impressed.

"I said, 'Bill, he's a hillbilly. I've heard his record on a jukebox in Dallas. You think he's gonna go over well here tonight? It's rock and roll time, isn't it?'

And he came out that night -- I met him before we went on. I said, 'Hi, Elvis, I'm Pat Boone.' 'Nice to meet you.' He came out singing 'Blue Moon of Kentucky, keep on shinin', (or smilin', or whatever it is).' And the kids didn't care for it.

"But then he said, 'Thank you very much. I'd like to sing the other side of that record,' and he sang, "That's All Right, Mama.' Rhythm and blues, and he got 'em with that. And they wanted more, but that's all there was.

"And then, of course, I had the good sense never to follow Elvis again!"

And like Elvis, and many other white performers of the day, Boone covered songs by African American artists like Fats Domino, whose song, "Aint That a Shame" Boone covered in 1955.

Critics called it stealing.

"A lot of people have the misconception that because we -- Elvis, I and others -- covered black artists' songs, we were taking something from them," Boone said. "But the reverse is true."

"Were any of them angry?" asked Smith.

"Maybe initially," he said. "They would like it if their record would be played on pop radio. But that wasn't happening until certain white artists, pop artists -- not just white, 'cause black pop artists also began to pick up on rhythm and blues music, too."

Still, "Ain't That a Shame" was the first of six number one singles for Boone, and it helped set his career on fire.

"The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom" was, in every sense, a promotional vehicle. On the debut broadcast in 1957, Boone was -- at 23 years old -- the youngest-ever host of a network TV show, and the father of three girls, with another follow.

If that wasn't enough, he was a full-time student at New York's Columbia University, class of '58. When he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English, he signed autographs at the ceremony, and TV Guide put him on its cover.

Smith asked, "Why was it important to get this degree from Columbia? You were already a star."

"I guess, ye of little faith -- I did not believe that this incredible stuff that was happening with my career was going to last."

And some of that stuff really was incredible. "Every major star in the country, even those that had their own shows, were coming on my show and singing with me. Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Count Basie's orchestra, George Shearing, on and on -- I mean, all!"

He looked cool enough: who wouldn't, singing a duet with Nat King Cole? But square ran in his blood.

Charles Eugene Boone was raised in Nashville, a church-going kid who thought he'd wind up as a teacher or a preacher.

But with a movie star's face and a voice to match, he became a true American idol -- that is, until that group from Liverpool landed.

So, what did The Beatles' arrival in the U.S. do to his musical career? Boone said, "I thought, 'Boy, these guys are good.' Well, when they became huge, suddenly they were selling almost all the records. Mine -- I mean, Tom Jones, the rest of us, Elvis, we were begging for our part of whatever was left!"

He knew he'd never beat The Beatles on the pop charts, so he tried something else: Boone commissioned portraits of the Fab Four, and sold them by the truckload.

"I got the contract from Seltaeb -- 'Beatles' spelled backwards, their licensing arm -- and I made more money selling Beatle pictures that one year than I was making from my records. So, I just got on the Beatle bandwagon," he said.

Seems he's always had an eye for something different, like his 1997 heavy metal album.

"Was that a mistake?" asked Smith.

"No! No, I'm so proud of that," Boone said.

It got him kicked off of Christian TV for a time, but "In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy" was a hit.

And there's something else he's proud of: Boone bought a one-acre Beverly Hills estate in 1960, and it's been his home ever since.

"I didn't want a tennis court," he said. "I wanted grass. I'm from Tennessee. You're walkin' barefoot, see? You can do that here.

"Lately, in the last year, we've had realtors coming and offering us, first one price, the next. I will say we've turned down $10 million. Then we turned down 12. We turned down 14. We turned down $16 million for the place we paid $159,000 for."

Clearly Pat Boone holds on to things he loves. He married Shirley Foley in 1953, when they were both 19 years old.

Smith asked, "How did you know that this was the woman that you could and would be with for the rest of your life?"

"I don't know how anybody knows it. I felt I did," he replied.

Shirley was at his side at a Grammy Museum reception celebrating another new album.

Sixty years in showbiz, and he's not done yet.

When asked if they think their dad will ever retire, daughter Debby said, "He will entertain my mother with that notion, but he's not really going to really entertain it himself."

Daughter Lindy added, "As long as people ask him to sing, he's gonna do it."

And they're still asking: Two weeks ago he and Debby packed a hall in Shipshewana, Indiana.

Debby, you might recall, had a monster hit of other own ("You Light Up My Life").

But Pat Boone can't please every crowd: he's a longtime, outspoken, Tea Party conservative, and he says he's paid a price.

"It's had its difficulties," he said, "because there's a lot of parties and events I hadn't been invited to for a long time."

"Because of your politics?"

"Yeah, sure. And movie parts that I would've been very good for and wanted. Directors have said, 'You know, I don't need, I don't want a guy of his political persuasions,' or they might call me names or whatever."

"Does it bother you if people hear what you're saying about politics and say, 'Oh, I want nothing to do with this guy'?"

"It only bothers me 'cause I think they haven't thought it through, and they maybe think less of me. So It doesn't bother me. I don't like it. I'd like to be loved by everybody, but nobody is."

Call him what you will: right wing, old school, square. Pat Boone just calls himself happy.

• GALLERY: Pat Boone

For more info:

• patboone.com (Official site)
• "Pat Boone: Duets - 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition" (Pat Boone's Gold Label); Available via Amazon and iTunes