Johnnie Ray

Infobox musical artist
Name = Johnnie Ray

---

Img_capt = Johnnie Ray in "There's No Business Like Show Business", 1954
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = John Alvin Ray
Born = birth date|1927|1|10
Hopewell, Oregon, USA
Died = death date and age|1990|2|24|1927|1|10
Los Angeles, California, USA
Instrument = Vocals, piano
Genre = Traditional pop music
Occupation = Singer, songwriter
Years_active = 1951-1989
Label = OKeh Records

John Alvin Ray (January 10 1927 – February 24 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage persona.cite web | author=Ruhlmann, William | title=High Drama: The Real Johnnie Ray | url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:39frxqyjldte | work=Allmusic.com | date= | accessdate=2008-03-04]

Biography

Early life

Ray was born in Hopewell, Oregon, spending part of his childhood on a farm, eventually moving to Portland, Oregon. Ray was of Native American origin; his great-grandmother was a full-blooded Indian and his great-grandfather was Oregon pioneer George Kirby Gay of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England.Fact|date=January 2008 He became deaf in his right ear at age 13 after an accident during a Boy Scout event, and later performed wearing a hearing aid. Surgery performed in New York in 1958 left him almost completely deaf in both ears, although hearing aids helped his condition.

Career

Ray first attracted attention while performing at the Flame Showbar in Detroit, Michigan, an R&B nightclub. Inspired by rhythm singers like Kay Starr, LaVern Baker and Ivory Joe Hunter, Ray developed a unique rhythm based style, described as alternating between pre-rock R&B and a more conventional classic pop approach.

His first record, the self-penned R&B number for OKeh Records, "Whiskey and Gin", was a minor hit in 1951. The following year he dominated the charts with the double-sided hit single of "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried". Selling over two million copies of the 45 single, Ray's delivery struck a chord with teenagers and he quickly became a teen idol.cite news | author=Holden, Steven | title=Johnnie Ray, 63, 50's Singer Who Hit No. 1 With a Sob in His Voice | work=The New York Times | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEEDE1238F935A15751C0A966958260 | date=1990-02-26 | accessdate=2008-02-27 ]

Ray's performing style included theatrics later associated with rock 'n roll, including beating up his piano, writhing on the floor and crying.Fact|date=January 2008 Ray quickly earned the nicknames, "Mr. Emotion", "The Nabob of Sob", and "The Prince of Wails", and several others.cite web | author=Rapp, Linda | url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/ray_j.html | title=Ray, Johnnie (1927-1990) | accessdate=2008-02-27]

More hits followed, including "Please Mr. Sun", "Such a Night", "Walkin' My Baby Back Home", "A Sinner Am I", and "Yes Tonight Josephine". His last hit was "Just Walkin' in the Rain", in 1956. He did, however, hit again in 1957 with "You Don't Owe Me a Thing", which reached #10 in the Billboard charts. He was popular in the United Kingdom, breaking the record at the London Palladium formerly set by Frankie Laine.Fact|date=January 2008 In later years, he retained a loyal fan base overseas, particularly in Australia.

Later career influences

Ray had a close relationship with journalist and television game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen who gave a boost to his sagging career during his engagement at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1965. [cite book | last=Israel | first=Lee | title=Kilgallen | location=New York | publisher=Delacorte Press | year=1979 | pages=401-2| isbn=0440045223]

In early 1969, Ray befriended Judy Garland, performing as her opening act during her last concerts in Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden. Ray was also the best man during Garland's wedding to nightclub manager Mickey Deans in London. [cite web | author= | title=Mickey Deans: Drinking to Judy | url=http://www.jamd.com/search?text=%22mickey%20deans%22&partner=Google&epmid=3 | work=Jamd | publisher=Getty Images | accessdate=2008-03-04]

Ray's American career revived in the early 1970s, with appearances on "The Andy Williams Show" in 1970 and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" three times during 1972 and 1973. His personal manager Bill Franklin resigned in 1976 and cut off contact with the singer a few years later. His American revival turned out to be shortlived. He performed in small American venues such as El Camino College in 1987. [cite news | author=Hawn, Jack | pages=6; Calendar Section | title=No Slowing Down For Mr. Emotion | work=Los Angeles Times | date=30 January 1987 | accessdate=2008-03-04] Australian, English and Scottish promoters booked him for their large venues as late as 1989, his last year of performing.

Some writers suggested that the reason American entertainment bookers and songwriters ignored him in the 1980s was because they simply did not know who he was or what his sound was like. [cite book | last=Baker | first=Glenn A | coauthors=Coupe, Stuart | title=The New Rock 'n Roll | location=Toronto | publisher=Sound & Vision | year=1984 | isbn=0920151000] His exposure during the new era of cable television was limited to a few seconds in Dexys Midnight Runners' 1982 music video for "Come On Eileen", using archival footage of Ray from 1954. His other video appearance was in Billy Idol's 1986 "Don't Need a Gun", in which Ray appeared on-camera.

Personal life

Ray had issues surface regarding his sexuality several times in his career, including two arrests for soliciting men for sex. Ray quietly pleaded guilty and paid a fine after the first arrest, in the restroom of the Stone Theatre burlesque house in Detroit, which was just prior to the release of his first record in 1951. Ray went to trial following the second arrest in 1959, also in Detroit, for soliciting an undercover officer in one of the city's gay bars. He was found not guilty.

Despite these issues, Ray married Marilyn Morrison a short time after he gave his first New York concert, which was at the Copacabana in 1952. The wedding ceremony, attended by New York mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri, made the cover of the New York Daily News.cite news | author=Di Lorenzo, Josephine | title=Johnnie Ray Weds -- Bride Cries | url= | work=New York Daily News | date=26 May 1952 | accessdate=] Morrison, the daughter of a Los Angeles nightclub owner, was aware of the singer's sexuality from the start, telling a friend she would "straighten it out."cite web | author=Rapp, Linda | title=Ray, Johnnie (1927-1990) | url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/ray_j.html | publisher=glbtq.com | date= | accessdate=2008-03-04] The couple separated in 1953 and divorced in 1954.

In the years hence, writers have noted that the marriage occurred under false pretenses, [cite book | last=Stephens | first=Vincent Lamar, PhD. | url=http://www.lib.umd.edu/drum/bitstream/1903/2444/1/umi-umd-2312.pdf | title=Queering the Textures of Rock and Roll History | location=College Park | publisher=University of Maryland | year=2005 | oclc=76833219|format=PDF] and that Ray had a long-term relationship with his manager, Bill Franklin. [cite book | last=Stern | first=Keith | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zVKCL0xKTOAC | title=Queers in History | location=Morrisville, North Carolina | publisher=Lulu.com | year=2006 | isbn=1847283489 | accessdate=2008-03-04] cite book | last=Whiteside | first=Jonny | title=Cry: The Johnnie Ray Story | location=New York | publisher=Barricade | year=1994 | isbn=1569800138] Ray also had a relationship with columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, whom he met following an appearance on "What's My Line?" in 1956. Kilgallen was a strong support for Ray during the 1959 solicitation trial.

Ray drank regularly and his alcoholism caught up with him in 1960, when he was hospitalized for tuberculosis. He recovered but continued drinking, and was diagnosed with cirrhosis at age fifty.cite news |author=Reynolds, Barrett |title=Johnnie Ray: Why I Cry for the Legend Who Should Have Been |url=http://www.porthalcyon.com/features/200406/johnnieray.shtml | work=The Halcyon Weekly Press | date=June 2004 | accessdate=2008-03-04]

On 24 February 1990, Ray died of liver failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was interred at Hopewell Cemetery near Hopewell, Oregon.

For his contribution to the recording industry, Johnnie Ray has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.

Hit singles

1951
* "Cry" (with The Four Lads), Columbia 30th St Studio, NYC,
October 16, 1951; Mundell Lowe (g) Ed Safranski (b) Ed
Shaughnessy (d) Buddy Reed (p)
* "Give Me Time" (with The Four Lads)
* "(Here Am I) Brokenhearted" (with The Four Lads)
* "The Little White Cloud That Cried", Columbia 30th St Studio,
NYC, October 15, 1951; Mundell Lowe (g) Ed Safranski
(b) Ed Shaughnessy (d) Stan Freeman (p) Lucky Thompson (sax)
* "She Didn't Say Nothin' At All"
* "Tell The Lady I Said Goodbye"
* "Whiskey And Gin"

1952
* "All of Me"
* "A Sinner Am I"
* "Candy Lips" (with Doris Day)
* "Coffee and Cigarettes (Think It Over)" (with The Four Lads)
* "Don't Blame Me"
* "Faith Can Move Mountains" (with The Four Lads)
* "Let's Walk That-A-Way" (with Doris Day)
* "Mountains in the Moonlight"
* "Out in the Cold Again"
* "Please Mr. Sun" (with The Four Lads)
* "The Lady Drinks Champagne"
* "Walkin' My Baby Back Home"

1953
* "Full Time Job" (with Doris Day)
* "Ma Says, Pa Says" (with Doris Day)
* "Somebody Stole My Gal"

1954
* "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
* "As Time Goes By"
* "Going-Going-Gone"
* "Hernando's Hideaway"
* "Hey There"
* "If You Believe"
* "Such a Night"1955
* "Flip Flop and Fly"
* "I've Got So Many Million Years"
* "Paths of Paradise"
* "Song of the Dreamer"1956
* "Ain't Misbehavin'"
* "Everyday I Have The Blues"
* "How Long How Long Blues"
* "I Want To Be Loved"
* "I'll Never Be Free"
* "I'm Gonna Move To the Outskirts of Town"
* "Just Walkin' in the Rain"
* "Lotus Blossom"
* "Sent For You Yesterday"
* "Shake a Hand"
* "Who's Sorry Now"

1957
* "Build Your Love (On a Strong Foundation)"
* "Good Evening Friends" (with Frankie Laine)
* "Look Homeward Angel"
* "Should I?"
* "Soliloquy Of a Fool"
* "Street Of Memories"
* "Up Above My Head" (with Frankie Laine)
* "You Don't Owe Me a Thing"
* "Yes Tonight Josephine"

1958
* "I'm Beginning to See the Light"
* "I'm Confessin'"
* "The Lonely Ones"
* "Up Until Now"

1959
* "Cool Water"
* "Empty Saddles"
* "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
* "It's All in the Game"
* "Red River Valley"
* "Twilight On the Trail"
* "Wagon Wheels"
* "When It's Springtime in the Rockies"

1960
* "I'll Make You Mine"

1961
* "Lookout Chattanooga"

Filmography

Actor

Television appearances

References

Further reading

*cite book | last=Guinness | first= | edition=16th Edition | title=Guinness Book of British Hit Singles | location=London | publisher=Gullane | year=2003 | isbn=085112190X
*cite book | last=Rice | first=Jo | title=The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits | location=Enfield, Middlesex | publisher=Guinness Superlatives | year=1982 | isbn=0851122507

External links

* [http://www.johnnieray.com/ The Johnnie Ray International Fan Club]
* [http://www.tsimon.com/ray.htm Biography]
*imdb|0712877
*findagrave|8831

Persondata
NAME= Ray, Johnnie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Ray, John Alvin
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Singer, Songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH= 1927-1-10
PLACE OF BIRTH=Hopewell, Oregon, United States
DATE OF DEATH= 1990-2-24
PLACE OF DEATH=Los Angeles, California, United States