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From a Hit Cover of ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ to Decades of Fame: Pat Boone in Billboard’s Back Pages

Pat Boone in Billboard's back pages, from his early hits to country songs to The Gold Label.

Back then, he was pushed as clean-cut counterprogramming to Elvis Presley — so successfully that he became bigger than the King, as measured by Billboard Hot 100 hits from the Aug. 4, 1958, debut of the chart through the end of the decade. After “Two Hearts,” Boone didn’t miss a beat: His cover of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame” (hailed as a “flavorsome number” in the June 18, 1955, issue) became his first No. Crediting his American Music Awards appearance with Alice Cooper as “one of the many publicity efforts” that fueled this success, Billboard said the album, released on Universal’s Hip-O, was “about as far out in left field as you can go without hitting the wall.”

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