Johnny Flamingo was a smooth, popular Los Angeles balladeer who recorded during the 1950s with The Dots and with various anonymous vocal groups under his own name. With The Dots he shared lead vocals with his girlfriend and later wife, Jeanette Baker.

He was born Melvin J. Moore in Houston, Texas, on January 13, 1934, and later took the last name of his stepfather, Broxton. Los Angeles disk jockey Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg claims that he's the one who dubbed the singer Johnny Flamingo, namng him for the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

After getting his start in an Air Force vocal group called The Criterions, Melvin returned to Los Angeles in 1956 and joined The Dots, who were signed to Huggy Boy's Caddy label. But Huggy Boy quickly saw greater possibilities in the burgeoning teen market for the handsome, light-skinned baritone, and so the career of Johnny Flamingo began.

Though they stopped recording in the early '60s, Flamingo and Jeanette Baker remained a popular act at clubs around Los Angeles, best known for dueting on "Hey Boy, Hey Girl," which Jeanette had originally recorded with Oscar McLollie for Class Records in 1958. (The song was recorded in the '60s by Louis Prima and Keely Smith for a movie of the same name.) Johnny and Jeanette performed at several Doo-Wop Society shows, including our March 4, 2000, Tribute to Hunter Hancock (which also featured Vernon Green in his final appearance).

Coincidentally, Johnny Flamingo and Vernon Green both died on Christmas Eve, 2000.