Johnny Preston, born John Preston Courville, August 18, 1939, in Port Arthur, Texas is an American pop music singer.

Of Cajun ancestry, Preston sang in high school choral contests throughout the state of Texas. He formed a rock and roll band called, The Shades, before recording the U.S. #1 hit single, "Running Bear," which was written by J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, who also performed on the recording as one of the voices doing the Indian chants. The song was also a transatlantic chart-topper, reaching #1 in the United Kingdom in March 1960. The sales of the record exceeded one million copies, earning Preston his first gold disc.

Preston quickly followed up with another hit called "Cradle of Love," [U.S. Billboard] #7, UK # 2, and made several other records during the early 1960s that met with modest success. "Cradle of Love" was also a hit on both the U.K. singles chart and in Athens, Greece.