Johnnie Ray

Born: January 10, 1927 Dallas, Oregon
Died: February 15, 1990

Fell on his head at the age of 10 and lost part of his hearing +++ Started singing and playing the piano in small Los Angeles clubs +++ His first record release on OKEH records in 1951, "Cry" and the flip-side "The Little White Cloud That Cried", went to no. 1 and no. 2 respectively +++ Later hits included "Please Mr. Sun", "Here am I - Broken Hearted", "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" and "Just Walkin' In The Rain" +++ His peculiar combined style of singing and sobbing, together with his emotion-filled, sometimes hysterical, performances, influenced a lot of Rock'n'Roll acts during the 50s +++