Galen Grindle, the Toledo-born entertainer who became a Detroit television legend under the stage name Johnny Ginger, died Sunday at a senior living facility in Genoa, Ohio. He was 92.
Watch Tony Geftos’ video report:
Detroit TV legend Johnny Ginger, known off-screen as Galen Grindle, dies at 92
Grindle was born in 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, and became part of his parents’ comedy theater act at the age of 6. His three sons say their father was bitten by the performance bug early.
“Parents were vaudevillians, and he would come out at the end of their show on my grandpa’s knee singing Sonny Boy, and he knew right then. He heard that applause, and it grabbed him,” Rocky Grindle said.
7 News Detroit’s Tony Geftos sat down with Grindle’s sons Jerry, Rocky, and Sean Grindle at Tony Packo’s in Toledo to look back at their father’s life and legacy…