Johnnie Ray

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Johnnie Ray

Ray in 1969, as best man at Judy Garland's wedding, by Allan Warren
Background information
Birth name John Alvin Ray
Born (1927-01-10)January 10, 1927
Hopewell, Oregon, United States
Died February 24, 1990(1990-02-24) (aged 63)
Los Angeles, United States
Genres Traditional pop
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, piano
Years active 1951–1989
Labels OKeh Records
Columbia Records

John Alvin "Johnnie" Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Extremely 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 personality.[1] Tony Bennett credits Ray as being the true father of rock and roll.[2]

The publication, British Hit Singles & Albums, noted that Ray was "a sensation in the 1950s, the heart-wrenching vocal delivery of the 'Cry Guy' ... influenced many acts including Elvis and was the prime target for teen hysteria in the pre-Presley days."[3]

In the United States in 1952 Ray rose very quickly from obscurity to stardom. He became a major star in the United Kingdom by performing and releasing recordings there in 1953. He matched these achievements in Australia the following year. His career in his native United States began to decline in the late 1950s, and his American record label dropped him in 1960.[4] He never regained a strong following there and very rarely appeared on American television after 1973.[4] His fan base in other countries, however, remained strong until his last year of performing, which was 1989. His recordings never stopped selling outside the United States.

Early life

Ray was born in Dallas, Oregon,[5] spending part of his childhood on a farm, lived in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon, with parents Elmer and Hazel (Simkins) Ray and older sister Elma Ray, and attended grade school there, eventually moving to Portland, Oregon, where he attended high school. Ray was not of Native American origin: it was rumored that his great-grandmother was a full-blooded Blackfoot Indian, but in a response to a reporter questioning his heritage in 1952, Ray, puzzled, looked down at his shoes and said "Blackfoot." His great-grandparents were Oregon pioneer George Kirby Gay of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England, and his Native American wife, Louisa, who was born in the Oregon Territory.[citation needed]

He became deaf in his left ear at age 13 after an accident during a Boy Scout "blanket toss," a variation of the trampoline. (Ray 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

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.[1]

Ray first attracted the attention of Bernie Lang, a song plugger, who was taken to the Flame Showbar nightclub in Detroit, Michigan by local DJ, Robin Seymour of WKMH. "We were both excited," Seymour recalls. "We heard two shows that first night." Lang rushed off to New York to sell the singer to Danny Kessler, the "Mr. Big" of the Okeh label, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. Kessler came over from New York, and he, Lang and Seymour went to the Flame. According to Seymour, Kessler's reaction was, "Well, I don't know. This kid looks well on the stand, but he will never go on records."[citation needed]

It was Seymour and Lowell Worley of the local office of Columbia who persuaded Kessler to have a test record made of Ray. Worley arranged for a record to be cut at the United Sound Studios in Detroit. Seymour told reporter Dick Osgood that there was a verbal agreement that he would be cut in on the three-way deal in the management of Ray. But the deal mysteriously evaporated, and so did Seymour's friendship with Kessler.[6]

Ray's 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".[5] Selling over two million copies of the 78rpm single, Ray's delivery struck a chord with teenagers and he quickly became a teen idol.[7] When OKeh parent Columbia Records realized that with Ray being white and had developed a fan base of white listeners, Ray was moved over to the Columbia label.[8] 20th Century Fox capitalized on his superstardom by including him in the ensemble cast of the movie There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) alongside Ethel Merman as his mother, Dan Dailey as his father, Donald O'Connor as his brother and Marilyn Monroe as his sister-in-law.

Ray's performing style included theatrics later associated with rock and roll, including tearing at his hair, falling to the floor, and crying.[9] Ray quickly earned the nicknames "Mr. Emotion", "The Nabob of Sob", and "The Prince of Wails",[5] and several others.[10]

More hits followed, including "Please Mr. Sun," "Such a Night," "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," "A Sinner Am I" and "Yes Tonight Josephine." He had a United Kingdom number 1 hit with "Just Walkin' in the Rain" (which Ray initially disliked[5]) during the Christmas season in 1956. He hit again in 1957 with "You Don't Owe Me a Thing," which reached number 10 in the Billboard charts. Though his American popularity was declining in 1957, he remained popular in the United Kingdom, breaking the record at the London Palladium formerly set by Frankie Laine.[citation needed] In later years, he retained a loyal fan base overseas, particularly in Australia.[11]

Later career influences

Johnnie Ray in There's No Business Like Show Business, 1954

Ray had a close relationship with journalist and television game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen. They became acquainted soon after his sudden rise to stardom in the United States. They remained close as his American career declined. Two months before Kilgallen's death in 1965, her newspaper column plugged Ray's engagements at the Latin Quarter (nightclub) in New York and the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.[12] He began his engagement at the Latin Quarter immediately after an eight-month vacation in Spain during which he and new manager Bill Franklin had extricated themselves from contracts with Bernie Lang, who had managed Ray from 1951 to 1963.[4] Ray and Franklin believed that a dishonest Lang had been responsible for the end of Ray's stardom in the United States and for large debts that he owed the Internal Revenue Service.[4]

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.[13]

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 short-lived. He performed in small American venues such as El Camino College in 1987.[14] 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.[15] 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. The lyrics of the song included "Poor old Johnnie Ray sounded sad upon the radio / He moved a million hearts in mono."[16]

Ray remained unknown to American young people as more of them started watching MTV, VH1 and other basic cable channels that shaped their knowledge of pop culture history. Ray's only other MTV video appearance was in Billy Idol's 1986 "Don't Need a Gun," for which he was filmed in Los Angeles in 1986 for an on-camera appearance. He is name-checked in the lyrics.[17]

Ray is one of the cultural touchstones mentioned in the first verse (concerning events from the late 1940s and early 1950s) of Billy Joel's 1989 hit single "We Didn't Start the Fire", between Red China and South Pacific.[18] At the time of the song's release, Ray was alive and details of his poor health were not public knowledge.

After Ray's death, he was name-checked by Van Morrison in his duet with Tom Jones entitled "Sometimes We Cry."[19]

Personal life

Ray was arrested twice for soliciting men for sex. He 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.[20] The incident was not reported in newspapers, and very few people outside Detroit knew about it during his sudden rise to stardom in 1952.[20] Ray went to trial following the second arrest in 1959, also in Detroit, for soliciting an undercover officer in a bar called the Brass Rail, which has been described variously as attracting traveling musicians and attracting gay people. He was found not guilty.[20]

Despite her knowledge of the 1951 arrest, Marilyn Morrison, daughter of the owner of the Mocambo nightclub in West Hollywood, California,[21] married Johnnie Ray in 1952. The wedding ceremony took place in New York a short time after he gave his first New York concert, which was at the Copacabana. New York mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri attended the ceremony, which got a lot of attention via the cover of the New York Daily News.[21] Morrison was aware of the singer's sexuality from the start, telling a friend she would "straighten it out."[20] The couple separated in 1953 and divorced in 1954.
Los Angeles Examiner edition of Tuesday afternoon, January 12, 1954 "Section three page 8" has this photo captioned: "ALL SETTLED - Singer Johnnie Ray and wife, Marilyn Morrison Ray (above) get their long-postponed divorce next Thursday in Mexico. Settlement agreement prevented mudslinging. - International News photo."
A Ray biography published in 1994 claimed Morrison tried to contact Ray many times in the decades that followed their divorce, sometimes talking on the phone with Bill Franklin, who served as his manager between 1963 and 1976. Ray always instructed Franklin to get rid of her on the phone. The book also claims Morrison seemed very sad while attending a Los Angeles memorial service for Ray in early March 1990 (he was buried in Oregon), and she refused to talk to the biographer in the early 1990s.

Several writers have noted that the Ray-Morrison marriage occurred under false pretenses,[22] and that Ray had a long-term relationship with his manager, Bill Franklin.[4][20][23]

Ray also had a relationship with newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, whom he allegedly met for the first time during one of his two appearances as the mystery guest on What's My Line?.[4][20][24] Ray told this story to Kilgallen biographer Lee Israel in 1976, at which time neither had access to the kinescopes of those live telecasts that date from August 22, 1954[25][26] and June 9, 1957.[27][28]

The Israel book's summary of the alleged first meeting of Ray and Kilgallen (on-camera) comes from his remembering it for Israel during her 1976 interview with him, not from kinescope film.[29][30][31] The book describes the relevant segment of the live broadcast as follows: "In the early part of 1956, Johnnie Ray appeared on 'What's My Line?' as a guest celebrity. ... Dorothy, with her blindfold in place, was mystified. [Her fellow panelist] Arlene [Francis] picked up on him and sallied in for victory. 'Are you a young man who made crying an indoor sport?' she asked."[32]

After Israel's book was published, others came forward saying that Johnnie Ray's relationship with Dorothy Kilgallen had begun a long time before he ever appeared on What's My Line?,[20] and that her job writing a daily newspaper column about entertainment had required her to interview him after crowds had bought all the available tickets for his first New York engagement in 1952.[20]

Regardless of how long the relationship lasted, Kilgallen was a strong support for Ray during the solicitation trial in Detroit in December 1959,[4][20] possibly communicating by telephone with the district attorney or judge.[4] Ray's fate was decided by a jury composed entirely of older women, one of whom ran to Ray to console him when he fainted upon hearing the "not guilty" verdict.[4]

Later years and death

Ray drank regularly, and in 1960 he was hospitalized for tuberculosis.[20] He recovered but continued drinking and was diagnosed with cirrhosis at age fifty.[24]

On February 24, 1990, Ray died of liver failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.[7][24] He is buried 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.

Selected discography

Albums

  • Johnnie Ray (Columbia, 1952)
  • Johnnie Ray At The Palladium (Philips Records, United Kingdom, 1954)
  • I Cry For You (Columbia, 1955)
  • The Big Beat (Columbia, 1957)
  • At the Desert Inn in Las Vegas (Columbia, 1958)
  • 'Till Morning (Columbia, 1958)
  • On The Trail (Columbia, 1959)
  • A Sinner Am I (Philips Records, United Kingdom, 1959)
  • Johnny Ray's Greatest Hits (Columbia Records, CL 1227)

Songs

1951

  • "(Here Am I) Brokenhearted" (with The Four Lads)
  • "The Little White Cloud That Cried" (with The Four Lads)
  • "She Didn't Say Nothin' At All"
  • "Tell The Lady I Said Goodbye"
  • "Whiskey And Gin"

1952

1953

  • "Full Time Job" (with Doris Day)
  • "Ma Says, Pa Says" (with Doris Day)

1954

1955

  • "Flip, Flop and Fly"
  • "I've Got So Many Million Years"
  • "Paths of Paradise"
  • "Song of the Dreamer"

1956

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

1959

1960

  • "I'll Make You Mine"

1961

Filmography

Actor

Year Film Role Notes
1954 There's No Business Like Show Business Steve Donahue
1955 General Electric Theater Johnny Pulaski episode "The Big Shot"
Shower of Stars Himself episode "That's Life"
1968 Rogues' Gallery Police officer bit part

Television appearances

Year Title Role Notes
1953 The Jack Benny Program Himself Episode "Johnnie Ray Show"
1953–1959 Toast of the Town Himself 7 episodes, 1953–1959
1954 The Colgate Comedy Hour Himself – singer 1 episode
1956 The Jimmy Durante Show Himself – singer as Johnny Ray
Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium Himself – Singer – Top Of The Bill 2 episodes, 1955–1960
Shower of Stars Himself
Frankie Laine Time Himself
1957 The Jackie Gleason Show Himself – Guest Host
What's My Line? Himself – Mystery guest 2 episodes, 1955, 1957
1959 Johnnie Ray Sings Himself – Singer/Host Special
1963 Bandstand Himself
1968 The Hollywood Palace Himself – Singer
The Joey Bishop Show Himself Episode dated January 25, 1968
Frost on Sunday Himself Episode dated December 8, 1968
1970 The Andy Williams Show Himself Episode dated October 10, 1970
1972–1973 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Himself 3 episodes
1977 American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary Himself
Fall In, the Stars Himself
The Merv Griffin Show Himself Episode dated September 21, 1977
1979 Juke Box Saturday Night Himself (1979)
1979–1980 CHiPs Himself 2 episodes, uncredited

Quotation

“ The mambo craze is passing and rhythm and blues will pass away too – the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. ”

NME – June 1955[33]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ruhlmann, William. "High Drama: The Real Johnnie Ray". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  2. ↑ Tom Henderson. "The tracks of his tears". Oregon Magazine. 
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 451. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Whiteside, Jonny (1994). Cry: The Johnnie Ray Story. New York: Barricade. ISBN 1-56980-013-8. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 2 – Play A Simple Melody: American pop music in the early fifties. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library". Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved 2012-12-11. "Johnnie Ray was to become ... the overnight success, as soon the press stepped in with its bouquet of clever, clever epithets: he was the Cry Guy and the Prince of Wails." 
  6. ↑ Osgood, Dick (1958). "WKMH's Seymour Can Cry About Ray Deal, Too". Detroit News. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Holden, Steven (1990-02-26). "Johnnie Ray, 63, 50s Singer Who Hit No. 1 With a Sob in His Voice". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  8. ↑ Beyond the Marquee: Johnnie Ray - Tad Mann - Google Books. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  9. ↑ Fox, James. "The Oregon Encyclopedia: Johnnie Ray (1927–1990)". Retrieved 2010-03-10. 
  10. ↑ Rapp, Linda. "Ray, Johnnie (1927–1990)". Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  11. ↑ "Johnnie Doesn't Like His Own Voice". The Sydney Morning Herald. September 12, 1954. Retrieved October 24, 2010. 
  12. ↑ Israel, Lee (1979). Kilgallen. New York: Delacorte Press. pp. 404–5. ISBN 0-440-04522-3. 
  13. ↑ "Mickey Deans: Drinking to Judy". Jamd. Getty Images. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  14. ↑ Hawn, Jack (January 30, 1987). "No Slowing Down For Mr. Emotion". Los Angeles Times. pp. 6; Calendar Section. 
  15. ↑ Baker, Glenn A; Coupe, Stuart (1984). The New Rock 'n Roll. Toronto: Sound & Vision. ISBN 0-920151-00-0. 
  16. ↑ "Save Ferris Come On Eileen Lyric". Lyricmania.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  17. ↑ "Song Lyrics That Name Check Celebrities, Billy Idol". Am I Right. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  18. ↑ "Song Lyrics : We Didn't Start The Fire (Billy Joel)". Risa.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  19. ↑ "Sometimes We Cry lyrics by Tom Jones and Van Morrison – Filestube Lyrics". Lyrics.filestube.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 Rapp, Linda. "Ray, Johnnie (1927–1990)". glbtq.com. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Di Lorenzo, Josephine (May 26, 1952). "Johnnie Ray Weds – Bride Cries". New York Daily News. 
  22. ↑ Stephens, Vincent Lamar, PhD. (2005). Queering the Textures of Rock and Roll History (PDF). College Park: University of Maryland. OCLC 76833219. 
  23. ↑ Stern, Keith (2006). Queers in History. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com. ISBN 1-84728-348-9. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Reynolds, Barrett (June 2004). "Johnnie Ray: Why I Cry for the Legend Who Should Have Been". The Halcyon Weekly Press. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  25. ↑ "What's My Line? – Season 5, Episode 51: EPISODE #221". TV.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  26. ↑ "Johnnie Ray on "What's My Line?"". YouTube. 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  27. ↑ "What's My Line? – Season 8, Episode 41: EPISODE #366". TV.com. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  28. ↑ "What's my line? Johnnie Ray". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-12-11. 
  29. ↑ Israel, Lee (1979). Kilgallen. New York: Delacorte Press. p. vii. ISBN 0-440-04522-3. 
  30. ↑ Israel, Lee (1979). Kilgallen. New York: Delacorte Press. p. 456. ISBN 0-440-04522-3. 
  31. ↑ Israel, Lee (1979). Kilgallen. New York: Delacorte Press. p. 472. ISBN 0-440-04522-3. 
  32. ↑ Israel, Lee (1979). Kilgallen. New York: Delacorte Press. pp. 277–8. ISBN 0-440-04522-3. 
  33. ↑ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 15. CN 5585. 

Further reading

  • Guinness Book of British Hit Singles (16th ed.). London: Gullane. 2003. ISBN 0-85112-190-X. 
  • Herr, Cheryl (2009) 'Roll-over-Beethoven: Johnnie Ray in context'. Popular Music vol. 28: 3, pp. 323–340. Special issue of journal on popular music and disability.
  • Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits. Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives. ISBN 0-85112-250-7. 

External links

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