Sammy Johns, R. I. P.

Writer of ‘Chevy Van’ dies at 66 Sammy Johns’ song about a chance encounter with a girl sat on the shelves of a record company for nearly two years before it was released in 1975. 

That song, “Chevy Van,” went on to sell 3 million copies and was called “The Song of the Seventies” by Rolling Stone magazine. It reached No. 5 on the charts in the United States and Canada. 

Johns, who was born in Charlotte but spent most of his life in Gaston County, died Friday at Gaston Memorial Hospital. He was 66.