45 Facts About Johnnie Ray

John Alvin Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist.

Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Johnnie Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality.

Johnnie Ray gained a local following singing at small, predominantly African-American nightclubs in Detroit, where he was discovered in 1949 and subsequently signed to Okeh Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records.

Johnnie Ray rose quickly from obscurity in the United States with the release of his debut album Johnnie Ray, as well as with a 78 rpm single, both of whose sides reached the Billboard magazine's Top Hot 100 chart, "Cry" and "The Little White Cloud That Cried".

In 1954, Johnnie Ray made his first film, There's No Business Like Show Business as part of an ensemble cast that included Ethel Merman and Marilyn Monroe.

Johnnie Ray never regained a strong following there and rarely appeared on American television after 1973.

Johnnie Ray was born on January 10,1927, in Dallas, Oregon to parents Elmer and Hazel Ray.

Johnnie Ray began playing the piano at age three, and beginning at age twelve sang in the local church choir.

At age thirteen, Johnnie Ray became deaf in his left ear following a mishap that occurred during a Boy Scout ritual called a "blanket toss".

Johnnie Ray began singing professionally on a Portland, Oregon, radio station at age 15, sharing billing with Jane Powell, then a local young singer.

Johnnie Ray later performed in comedy shows and theatrical productions in Seattle, Washington before relocating to Detroit, Michigan.

In Detroit, Johnnie Ray regularly performed at the Flame Showbar, an African-American nightclub, where he developed a local following.

When executives at Okeh's parent Columbia Records realized that the Caucasian Johnnie Ray had developed a fan base of Caucasian listeners, he was moved over to the Columbia label.

Johnnie Ray's performing style included theatrics later associated with rock and roll, including tearing at his hair, falling to the floor, and crying on stage.

Johnnie Ray scored a number-one hit in the United Kingdom with "Just Walkin' in the Rain" during the Christmas season in 1956.

Johnnie Ray hit again in 1957 with "You Don't Owe Me a Thing", which reached number 10 on the Billboard charts in the United States.

Johnnie Ray had a close relationship with journalist and television game show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen.

Johnnie Ray began his gig 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.

In 1969, Johnnie Ray headlined a European concert tour with Judy Garland.

Johnnie Ray served as the best man at her wedding to her last husband, nightclub manager Mickey Deans, in London on March 15,1969.

Johnnie Ray made network television appearances on The Andy Williams Show in 1970, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson three times during 1972 and 1973.

In 1981 Johnnie Ray hired Alan Eichler as his manager and resumed performing with an instrumental trio rather than with the large orchestras he and his audiences had been accustomed to for the first 25 years of his career.

In 1986, Johnnie Ray appeared as a Los Angeles taxicab driver in Billy Idol's "Don't Need a Gun" video, and is name-checked in the lyrics of the song.

Johnnie Ray performed there in 1987 "with a big-band group," according to a Los Angeles Times profile of him during that year.

Johnnie Ray was significantly influenced by gospel music and numerous African American singers, specifically Billie Holiday, Little Miss Cornshucks and LaVern Baker, as well as Judy Garland and Kay Starr.

In 1959, Johnnie Ray was arrested again in Detroit for soliciting an undercover officer at the Brass Rail, a bar that was described many years later by one biographer as a haven for musicians, and by another biographer as a gay bar.

Johnnie Ray went to trial following this second arrest and was found not guilty.

Johnnie Ray did maintain a loyal friendship with his road manager Tad Mann, who was married with five children.

When Johnnie Ray gave parties at his Los Angeles house in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, frequent guests included Mann, and actress Jane Withers.

Decades later, Johnnie Ray often mentioned Kilgallen to his manager Alan Eichler and remained devastated by her unexpected death in 1965.

Johnnie Ray suffered from alcoholism throughout his life, though during the 1950s at the height of his fame, newspaper and magazine pieces about Johnnie Ray did not disclose the extent of his drinking problem.

On September 2,1952, Johnnie Ray was arrested in Boston for public intoxication, but was released four hours later.

Johnnie Ray's music was not available for sale, and he did not appear on American television during the first half of the 1960s.

Video footage of this performance was reviewed by Whiteside in the early 1990s, and he wrote in his biography that Johnnie Ray appeared emaciated and unhealthy.

In 1969, shortly after Johnnie Ray returned to the United States from a European tour with Judy Garland, an American doctor informed him that he was well enough to drink an occasional glass of wine.

Johnnie Ray instead resumed drinking heavily, and his health began to decline.

Johnnie Ray performed for many years after the National Enquirer began investigating and reporting celebrity substance abuse, but it made no mention of him during his lifetime.

Johnnie Ray was confined there for more than two weeks without the knowledge of journalists or talk radio personalities who had interviewed him in various countries throughout the 1980s.

Johnnie Ray is buried at Hopewell Cemetery near Hopewell, Oregon.

Archival footage of Johnnie Ray arriving at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 was featured in the 1982 music video for Dexys Midnight Runners' hit single "Come On Eileen".

Johnnie Ray is mentioned in the lyrics of Billy Idol's 1986 hit "Don't Need a Gun", and appears in the video.

Multiple elements of Johnnie Ray's self-composed hit "I'll Never Fall in Love again" are sampled in Portishead's 1994 song "Biscuit".

Johnnie Ray is mentioned in the lyrics of Van Morrison's 1997 song "Sometimes We Cry" from his album The Healing Game, a song that features the backing vocals of Brian Kennedy and Georgie Fame.

Johnnie Ray is one of the cultural touchstones mentioned in the first verse of Billy Joel's 1989 hit single "We Didn't Start the Fire", between Red China and South Pacific.

Johnnie Ray was the first singer whose voice and style, I guess, I totally fell in love with.