Justis was born in
Birmingham, Alabama, United States, but grew up in
Memphis, Tennessee and studied music at
Christian Brothers College (high school department) and
Tulane University in
New Orleans, Louisiana. A
trumpet and
saxophone player, while in university he performed with local jazz and dance bands. He returned home to Memphis in 1951 and was eventually taken on by
Sam Phillips at
Sun Records where he recorded music for himself as well as arranged the music for Sun artists such as
Jerry Lee Lewis,
Roy Orbison,
Johnny Cash, and
Charlie Rich, the latter of which he is credited with discovering. and reached No. 11 in the
UK Singles Chart. Justis had one other significant hit record, "College Man", that went to U.S. No. 42, and No. 11 in
Canada In 1961, Justis moved to
Nashville where he became a successful
record producer and music arranger for both
pop and
country music performers at
Monument and
Mercury Records and other labels. The song reached No. 19 in
Canada but did not chart on the
Billboard Hot 100. In the early 1960s he produced a successful series of instrumental
albums on the
Smash label (
Alley Cat/Green Onions, and
Telstar/The Lonely Bull). Justis was credited by
Ray Stevens in the TNN special,
The Life and Times of Ray Stevens, for giving him the phrase "Gitarzan", which became a million selling hit for Stevens in 1969. Justis also wrote the scores for several
films including
Dear Dead Delilah (1972),
Smokey and the Bandit (1977),
Hooper (1978),
The Villain (1979), and
Island Claws (1980). Justis died of
cancer in
Nashville in 1982, at the age of 55, and was interred in the
Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. ==References==