Leroy "Gil" Hamilton, better known by his stage name Johnny Thunder, is best known for the R&B hit "Loop de Loop". Born in Leesburg, Florida, on August 15, 1931, he began singing in church and on the street, before moving to New York in the hope of meeting The Drifters. He succeeded in doing so, and even joined the group for one tour, while their lead singer Ben E. King went off to pursue a solo career. He went on to record under his birth name for the Capitol and Fury labels, where his tenor voice came to the fore as a backing vocalist. One of his songs, "Tell Her", becomes a hit in The Exciters' reworked interpretation of "Tell Him". Approached by composer and producer Teddy Vann, he records the traditional children's song "Loop de Loop" and adopts the name Johnny Thunder. The song became his only hit, reaching #4 on the Billboard pop charts and #6 on the R&B charts in 1963. An album of the same name was quickly conceived, while "Loop de Loop" was covered in the UK by Frankie Vaughan. Although he didn't achieve similar success in the following years, Johnny Thunder returned to the charts with "Everybody Do the Sloopy", charted at no. 67 in 1965, followed by the duet "Make Love to Me" with Ruby Winters in 1967 (no. 96). In 1969, he returned under the Calla label for "I'm Alive", one of Bob Dylan's favorite songs, used in a commercial or on film in the movie American Animals (2018). On September 6, 2024, Johnny Thunder died in Winter Park, Florida, at the age of 93.
