John Wright

Who is John Wright?

John Robert "Bobby" Wright is an American country music singer. He is the son of country singers Johnnie Wright and Kitty Wells, and brother of Ruby Wright. Most of his boyhood years were spent in Louisiana, since his parents were regular performers on the country music television program Louisiana Hayride. At age eight, Wright appeared with his parents on the show, and became part of their recordings three years later. The family went back to Nashville in 1958, because his parents became headliners at the Grand Ole Opry.

Although Wright was an able guitarist and vocalist, he had little interest in a music career. He became interested in acting when he learned that Peter Tewksbury, a television and film director, had a role for a young Southern boy who could play the guitar. Wright made the trip to Hollywood to test for Tewksbury. While he did not get the role he went to California for, his screen test was seen by the producer of McHale's Navy, who cast him in the new television comedy as Willy Moss, the PT-73 radio operator, a role he played through the entire series.

While McHale's Navy was still in production, Wright decided to give music a try, beginning by working with his mother on one of her 1965 albums. Unhappy with the Hollywood scene after McHale's Navy ended, he moved back to Nashville to start a music career.