This is a perfectly listenable bit of rockabilly, but what an odd song choice to cover!
Carl Mann (1942-2020) was from Huntingdon, Tennessee. He started playing the guitar at the age of 8 and started releasing singles when he was 15. In 1959, Sun Records owner Sam Phillips signed Mann to a contract, releasing "Mona Lisa" as his first single on the label, when Mann was 16; it reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #24 on the U.S. R&B chart and sold over a million records.
"Mona Lisa" was originally part of the soundtrack to the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A., released in 1949; it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1950. Nat King Cole recorded a version of the song in 1950 and reached #1 on the Billboard singles chart that year. Conway Twitty also recorded a rockabilly version of "Mona Lisa" that was released shortly after Mann's version; it also charted, reaching #29 on the Hot 100, but didn't get airplay in Toronto. (I like Mann's version better.)
Mann released a few other singles after this up until 1962 but with not much success. He then went into the Army and returned to his family's lumber business. He attempted to revive his career in the mid-1970s, with no luck, but returned to touring in the 21st century. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2006.
Created August 26, 2026.