Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce ; April 1, 1929 – September 16, 2021) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powell appeared in films, television and on the stage, performing in the musicals A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955).
134-464: John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, 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. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in
268-537: A Cincinnati -based stage production of Meet Me In St. Louis . The following year, Powell made her Broadway debut playing the title character in Irene , following Debbie Reynolds ' performance in the title role. Mel Gussow of The New York Times praised Powell's performance, writing: "The two stars are an equal match for peppiness. Miss Reynolds may score a point for clowning, but Miss Powell wins two for softness." Howard Keel and she appeared on stage together in
402-417: A distorted electric guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . However, the use of distortion was predated by electric blues guitarists such as Joe Hill Louis , Guitar Slim , Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf 's band, and Pat Hare ; the latter two also made use of distorted power chords in the early 1950s. Also in 1955, Bo Diddley introduced the " Bo Diddley beat " and
536-531: A double bass (string bass). After the mid-1950s, electric bass guitars ("Fender bass") and drum kits became popular in classic rock. Rock and roll had a profound influence on contemporary American lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language, and is often portrayed in movies, fan magazines, and on television. Some people believe that the music had a positive influence on the civil rights movement , because of its widespread appeal to both Black American and White American teenagers. The term "rock and roll"
670-429: A hearing aid . Surgery performed in 1958 left him almost completely deaf in both ears, although hearing aids helped his condition. Ray credited his deafness as pivotal to his career and performance style, saying, "My need for sincerity traces back to when I was a child and lost my hearing. I became withdrawn. I had an emotional need to develop a relationship to other people." After graduating from high school, Ray worked as
804-458: A soda jerk , a bus boy , and a mill worker in Salem. In the interim, he did jobs playing piano at clubs in Salem and Portland. Inspired by rhythm singers like Kay Starr , LaVern Baker , and Ivory Joe Hunter , Ray developed a unique rhythm-based singing style described as alternating between pre-rock rhythm and blues and a more conventional classic pop approach. He began singing professionally on
938-723: A Girl in 1953. Powell starred in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954. In 2006, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was named one of the greatest American musicals of all time by the American Film Institute . Powell starred in Athena and Deep in My Heart in 1954. In 1955, Powell starred opposite Tony Martin , Debbie Reynolds , Ann Miller, and Russ Tamblyn in Hit the Deck , which
1072-791: A Girl . Powell and Nelson planned to marry after divorcing their spouses, but after divorcing his wife, Nelson backed out of marrying Powell. Powell married car dealer Patrick W. Nerney on November 8, 1954. Their daughter, Lindsay Averill, was born on February 1, 1956. Powell and Nerney divorced in May 1963. In 1965, Powell married Hollywood publicist and manager Jim Fitzgerald, who managed her career. They divorced in 1975. She married David Stellar Parlour in 1978 and divorced him in 1981. Powell married child star Dickie Moore in 1988. After Moore died in 2015, Powell moved to their home in Wilton, Connecticut , where she died of natural causes on September 16, 2021, at
1206-596: A Hollywood talent show and signed a contract with MGM Theaters in Hollywood the next day at the age of 14. She wanted to go back to high school and to university, but her mother forbade this as she was the only one in the family making good money. After signing with MGM, Powell was lent to United Artists for her first film, Song of the Open Road (1944), where she played the character of Jane Powell and took that as her professional name. In 1945, Powell sang "Because" at
1340-518: A Portland, Oregon, radio station at age 15, sharing billing with Jane Powell , then a local young singer. He later performed in comedy shows and theatrical productions in Seattle, Washington before relocating to Detroit, Michigan . In Detroit, Ray regularly performed at the Flame Show Bar Talent Club, an African-American nightclub, where he developed a local following. While performing at
1474-812: A big-band group," according to a Los Angeles Times profile of him during that year. Other 1980s appearances included the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, Resorts International in Atlantic City , and the Vine St. Bar and Grill in Hollywood , where his show was broadcast live by KKJZ ("K-Jazz") radio. In February 1987, a high-school gym in Alexandria, Louisiana was the venue for a Big Band Gala of Stars that included short sets by Ray, Barbara McNair , and other aging singers. In 1986, Ray and sitcom actress Marla Gibbs were among
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#17330942937151608-458: A blues number), " Baby Let's Play House ", " Lawdy Miss Clawdy ", and " Hound Dog ". The racial lines, however, are rather more clouded by the fact that some of these R&B songs originally recorded by black artists had been written by white songwriters, such as the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller . Songwriting credits were often unreliable; many publishers, record executives, and even managers (both white and black) would insert their name as
1742-409: A composer in order to collect royalty checks. Covers were customary in the music industry at the time; it was made particularly easy by the compulsory license provision of United States copyright law (still in effect). One of the first relevant successful covers was Wynonie Harris 's transformation of Roy Brown 's 1947 original jump blues hit " Good Rocking Tonight " into a more showy rocker and
1876-496: A defiant teen dates a rock and roll-loving boy but drops him for one who likes traditional adult music—to her parents' relief. In Britain, where postwar prosperity was more limited, rock and roll culture became attached to the pre-existing Teddy Boy movement, largely working class in origin, and eventually to the rockers . "On the white side of the deeply segregated music market", rock and roll became marketed for teenagers, as in Dion and
2010-675: A devout Catholic woman whose gay son wishes to marry his partner in the church. This was followed by a stage production of 70, Girls, 70 , the same year. In 2002, she guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , followed by a role in the Showtime film The Sandy Bottom Orchestra (2003). In 2003, she made a return to the stage as Mama Mizner in the Stephen Sondheim musical Bounce , which held performances in Chicago and Washington, DC . "I auditioned just to meet Sondheim, who
2144-601: A farm and attended grade school in Dallas. Ray began playing the piano at age three, and beginning at age 12 sang in the local church choir. After the United States entered World War II, the family moved to Portland, Oregon , where Ray attended Franklin High School . At age 13, Ray became deaf in his left ear following a mishap that occurred during a Boy Scout ritual called a "blanket toss". In later years, Ray performed wearing
2278-485: A friend she would "straighten it out." The couple separated in 1953 and divorced in 1954. Several writers have noted that the Ray-Morrison marriage occurred under false pretenses, and that Ray had had a long-term relationship with his manager Bill Franklin. However, a biography of Ray points out that Franklin was 13 years younger than Ray, and that both their personal and business relationships began in 1963, many years after
2412-406: A limited extent, as he had not released a record album or single in over a decade. He made network television 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. Ray’s last television appearance in the United States
2546-582: A loyal fan base overseas, particularly in Australia. 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 in New York and
2680-507: A major influence on British Invasion acts and particularly on the song writing of the Beatles and through them on the nature of later rock music. Many of the earliest white rock and roll hits were covers or partial re-writes of earlier black rhythm and blues or blues songs. Through the late 1940s and early 1950s, R&B music had been gaining a stronger beat and a wilder style, with artists such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis speeding up
2814-833: A number-one hit in the United Kingdom with " Just Walkin' in the Rain " (which he initially disliked) during the Christmas season in 1956. He hit again in 1957 with "You Don't Owe Me a Thing", which reached number 10 on the Billboard charts in the United States. Though his American popularity was declining in 1957, he remained popular in the United Kingdom, breaking the attendance record at the London Palladium formerly set by fellow Columbia Records artist Frankie Laine . In later years, he retained
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#17330942937152948-575: A perkier vocal more appropriate for an audience unfamiliar with the song to which James's song was an answer , Hank Ballard 's "Work With Me, Annie". Presley's rock and roll version of "Hound Dog", taken mainly from a version recorded by the pop band Freddie Bell and the Bellboys , was very different from the blues shouter that Big Mama Thornton had recorded four years earlier. Other white artists who recorded cover versions of rhythm and blues songs included Gale Storm (Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin ' "),
3082-655: A preacher (October 1957), the departure of Presley for service in the United States Army (March 1958), the scandal surrounding Jerry Lee Lewis ' marriage to his thirteen-year-old cousin (May 1958), riots caused by Bill Haley 's ill-fated tour of Europe (October 1958), the deaths of Buddy Holly , The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash (February 1959), the breaking of the Payola scandal implicating major figures, including Alan Freed , in bribery and corruption in promoting individual acts or songs (November 1959),
3216-440: A production of My Fair Lady at Los Angeles' Valley West Theatre, which established a record gross for West Coast-based productions of the play. She also toured in 1964 in a musical review titled Just 20 Plus Me! It was done to a recorded track and featured Powell with 20 handsome "chorus boys". Asked after the performance if the production was going to be made available on a commercial recording, she said simply "No." She had
3350-469: A profile of Ray in the Saturday Evening Post edition dated July 26, 1952. In 1954, Kilgallen gave birth to a baby boy who was photographed for magazines and newspapers with her holding him, never with a father. Decades later, Ray often mentioned Kilgallen to his manager Alan Eichler and remained devastated by her unexpected death in 1965. According to Eichler, Ray never spoke about or acknowledged
3484-415: A result heard each other's music and even began to emulate each other's fashions. Radio stations that made white and black forms of music available to both groups, the development and spread of the gramophone record , and African-American musical styles such as jazz and swing which were taken up by white musicians, aided this process of "cultural collision". The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in
3618-622: A result of the incident. Despite her knowledge of the solicitation arrest, Marilyn Morrison, daughter of the owner of the Mocambo nightclub, married Ray at the peak of his American fame. The wedding ceremony took place in New York a short time after he gave his first New York concert, which was at the Copacabana . The New York Daily News made the wedding its cover story for May 26, 1952, and it reported that guests included Mayor Vincent R. Impellitteri . Aware of Ray's unorthodox sexuality, Morrison told
3752-523: A revival of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers , I Do! I Do! and South Pacific . In the early 1980s, Powell toured in the comedies Same Time, Next Year ; The Marriage-Go-Round , and Chapter Two . Between 1981 and 1982, Powell had guest-starring role on The Love Boat and Fantasy Island . In 1985, she started a 9-month run in the daytime soap opera Loving , playing a tough mother and businesswoman, followed by another guest-starring part on Murder, She Wrote in 1985. In 1988, Powell
3886-600: A rock and roll standard. As interest in rock and roll was beginning to subside in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was taken up by groups in British cities like Liverpool , Manchester , Birmingham , and London . About the same time, a British blues scene developed, initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who were inspired by American musicians such as Robert Johnson , Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf . Many groups moved towards
4020-446: A song that features the backing vocals of Brian Kennedy and Georgie Fame . 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 . He is mentioned in the lyrics of Jimmy Ray 's 1997 song " Are You Jimmy Ray? " Ray
4154-476: A time of considerable technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier , 45 rpm record and modern condenser microphones . There were also changes in the record industry, with the rise of independent labels like Atlantic , Sun and Chess servicing niche audiences and a similar rise of radio stations that played their music. It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to this music that led to
Johnnie Ray - Misplaced Pages Continue
4288-496: A unique electric guitar style, influenced by African and Afro-Cuban music and in turn influencing many later artists. Rock and roll was strongly influenced by R&B, according to many sources, including an article in The Wall Street Journal in 1985, titled, "Rock! It's Still Rhythm and Blues". In fact, the author stated that the "two terms were used interchangeably", until about 1957. The other sources quoted in
4422-432: A white market, or a new hybrid of black and white forms. In the 1930s, jazz , and particularly swing , both in urban-based dance bands and blues-influenced country swing ( Jimmie Rodgers , Moon Mullican and other similar singers), were among the first music to present African-American sounds for a predominantly white audience. One particularly noteworthy example of a jazz song with recognizably rock and roll elements
4556-509: A wider scale than any other single performer and by 1956, he had emerged as the singing sensation of the nation. Bill Flagg who is a Connecticut resident, began referring to his mix of hillbilly and rock 'n' roll music as rockabilly around 1953. In July 1954, Presley recorded the regional hit " That's All Right " at Sam Phillips' Sun Studio in Memphis. Three months earlier, on April 12, 1954, Bill Haley & His Comets recorded "Rock Around
4690-520: A woman who becomes engaged to three men simultaneously. Though shot in 1956, the film was not released until 1958, after RKO went out of business. Known mainly for her roles in musical comedies, Powell appeared in a rare dramatic role in the film noir The Female Animal (1958) from Universal Pictures , which marked the final film of co-star Hedy Lamarr . By the late 1950s, after Powell's contract with MGM expired and her film offers began to slow, she turned to theater. Her first summer stock role
4824-519: Is Big Joe Turner with pianist Pete Johnson 's 1938 single " Roll 'Em Pete ", which is regarded as an important precursor of rock and roll. The 1940s saw the increased use of blaring horns (including saxophones), shouted lyrics and boogie-woogie beats in jazz-based music. During and immediately after World War II , with shortages of fuel and limitations on audiences and available personnel, large jazz bands were less economical and tended to be replaced by smaller combos, using guitars, bass and drums. In
4958-403: Is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz , rhythm and blues , boogie-woogie , electric blues , gospel , and jump blues , as well as country music . While rock and roll's formative elements can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s,
5092-833: Is buried at Hopewell Cemetery near Hopewell , Oregon. For his contribution to the recording industry, Johnnie Ray was honored with a star in 1960 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard . In 1999, Bear Family Records issued two five-CD sets of his entire body of work, each containing an 84-page book on his career. Companies including Sony Music Entertainment (the parent company of Columbia Records) and Collectables have kept his large catalogue of recordings in continual release worldwide. Music journalist Robert A. Rodriguez noted Ray's contemporary obscurity in his 2006 book The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels, Cold War Crises, and All American Oddities , writing: Though barely remembered today, to
5226-472: Is defined by Greg Kot in Encyclopædia Britannica as the music that originated in the mid-1950s and later developed "into the more encompassing international style known as rock music ". The term is sometimes also used as synonymous with "rock music" and is defined as such in some dictionaries. The phrase "rocking and rolling" originally described the movement of a ship on the ocean, but by
5360-677: Is general agreement that it arose in the Southern United States – a region that would produce most of the major early rock and roll acts – through the meeting of various influences that embodied a merging of the African musical tradition with European instrumentation. The migration of many former slaves and their descendants to major urban centers such as St. Louis , Memphis , New York City , Detroit , Chicago , Cleveland , and Buffalo meant that black and white residents were living in close proximity in larger numbers than ever before, and as
5494-466: Is often identified with the emergence of teen culture among the first baby boomer generation, who had greater relative affluence and leisure time and adopted rock and roll as part of a distinct subculture. This involved not just music, absorbed via radio, record buying, jukeboxes and TV programs like American Bandstand , but also extended to film, clothes, hair, cars and motorcycles, and distinctive language. The youth culture exemplified by rock and roll
Johnnie Ray - Misplaced Pages Continue
5628-708: Is rock 'n' roll. I think that 'Rocket 88' is R&B, but I think 'Rocket 88' is the cause of rock and roll existing". In terms of its wide cultural impact across society in the US and elsewhere, Bill Haley 's " Rock Around the Clock ", recorded in April 1954 but not a commercial success until the following year, is generally recognized as an important milestone, but it was preceded by many recordings from earlier decades in which elements of rock and roll can be clearly discerned. Journalist Alexis Petridis argued that neither Haley's "Rock Around
5762-477: The British Invasion would become the superseding forms of rock music during the mid-1960s, a few American artists were nonetheless able to achieve chart successes with rock and roll recordings during this time. The most notable of these was Johnny Rivers , who with hits such as "Memphis" (1964), popularized a " Go-go " style of club-oriented, danceable rock and roll that enjoyed significant success in spite of
5896-580: The Internal Revenue Service . In 1969, Ray headlined a European concert tour with Judy Garland . He served as the best man at her wedding to her last husband, nightclub manager Mickey Deans , in London on March 15, 1969. Denmark and Sweden were among the countries where Ray and Garland performed together; they played in Stockholm on March 19. In the early 1970s, Ray's American career revived to
6030-660: The Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada . He 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. 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
6164-457: The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that abolished the policy of " separate but equal " in 1954, but leaving a policy which would be extremely difficult to enforce in parts of the United States. The coming together of white youth audiences and black music in rock and roll inevitably provoked strong white racist reactions within the US, with many whites condemning its breaking down of barriers based on color. Many observers saw rock and roll as heralding
6298-654: The US pop charts – topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956 and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency. The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols. More grass roots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele . During this period American Rock and Roll remained dominant but in 1958 Britain produced its first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard reached number 2 in
6432-590: The beat music of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from skiffle, like the Quarrymen who became the Beatles , producing a form of rock and roll revivalism that carried them and many other groups to national success from about 1963 and to international success from 1964, known in America as the British Invasion. Groups that followed the Beatles included the beat-influenced Freddie and the Dreamers , Wayne Fontana and
6566-611: The race label Okeh , the self-penned R&B number "Whiskey and Gin", was a minor hit in 1951. When executives at Okeh's parent Columbia Records realized that the Caucasian Ray had developed a fan base of Caucasian listeners, he was moved over to the Columbia label. In 1952, he dominated the American popular music charts with the double-sided hit single of " Cry " and " The Little White Cloud That Cried ". Selling over two million copies of
6700-428: The rhythm and blues , then called " race music ", in combination with either boogie-woogie and shouting gospel or with country music of the 1940s and 1950s. Particularly significant influences were jazz, blues , gospel , country, and folk . Commentators differ in their views of which of these forms were most important and the degree to which the new music was a re-branding of African-American rhythm and blues for
6834-469: The sitcom Growing Pains (1988–1992). She was a veteran of the Golden Age of Hollywood . Powell starred in off-Broadway productions of Avow and Bounce in 2000. In December 2007, she united with the musical group Pink Martini , performing as a vocalist with them in their shared hometown of Portland. She appeared in local theatre productions in Wilton, Connecticut before her death. Powell
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#17330942937156968-415: The tempos and increasing the backbeat to great popularity on the juke joint circuit. Before the efforts of Freed and others, black music was taboo on many white-owned radio outlets, but artists and producers quickly recognized the potential of rock and roll. Some of Presley's early recordings were covers of black rhythm and blues or blues songs, such as " That's All Right " (a countrified arrangement of
7102-843: The 1800s; the recording can be heard on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website. Various gospel, blues and swing recordings used the phrase before it became widely popular. " Bosom of Abraham ", an African-American spiritual that was documented no later than 1867 (just after the Civil War ), uses the phrase "rock my soul" frequently in a religious sense; this song was later recorded by musicians from various genres, including various gospel musicians and groups (including The Jordanaires ), Louis Armstrong (jazz/swing), Lonnie Donegan ( skiffle ), and Elvis Presley (rock and roll/pop/country). Blues singer Trixie Smith recorded "My [Man] Rocks Me with One Steady Roll" in 1922. It
7236-481: The 1950s at the height of his fame, newspaper and magazine pieces about Ray did not disclose the extent of his drinking problem. On September 2, 1952, Ray was arrested in Boston for public intoxication, but was released four hours later. According to biographer Jonny Whiteside, he drank heavily then. In 1960, he was hospitalized for tuberculosis . Shortly after his recovery, he quit drinking, according to Whiteside. His music
7370-418: The 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality 'at the vanguard' and made him 'a really important figure ' ". After Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , the organization's Web site offered this comment: "He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under
7504-491: The 78 rpm single, Ray's delivery struck a chord with teenagers and he quickly became a teen idol . The live television broadcast of Toast of the Town on January 6, 1952, included the first of his several appearances on the widely-seen program that officially changed its title in 1955 to The Ed Sullivan Show . Ray's performing style included theatrics later associated with rock and roll, including tearing at his hair, falling to
7638-598: The Beatles pointed out that the three singers that the Beatles listened to in their fledgling days were Chuck Berry , Little Richard and Johnnie Ray." In 1986, 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. During this time period, Ray was generally playing small venues in the United States such as Citrus College in Los Angeles County, California . He performed there in 1987 "with
7772-552: The Belmonts ' " A Teenager in Love " (1959). From its early 1950s beginnings through the early 1960s, rock and roll spawned new dance crazes including the twist . Teenagers found the syncopated backbeat rhythm especially suited to reviving Big Band-era jitterbug dancing. Sock hops , school and church gym dances, and home basement dance parties became the rage, and American teens watched Dick Clark 's American Bandstand to keep up on
7906-678: The Car. In the early 1990s, Powell was a temporary replacement on the soap opera As the World Turns for Eileen Fulton as Lisa Grimaldi . In 1996 and 1997, she appeared in the off-Broadway production After-Play . She also performed the role of the Queen in Rodgers and Hammerstein 's Cinderella at New York City Opera . In 2000, Powell appeared in the Off-Broadway production Avow , in which she portrayed
8040-547: The Clock" nor Presley's version of "That's Alright Mama" heralded a new genre: "They were simply the first white artists' interpretations of a sound already well-established by black musicians almost a decade before. It was a raucous, driving, unnamed variant of rhythm and blues that came complete with lyrics that talked about rocking". Other artists with early rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry , Bo Diddley , Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , and Gene Vincent . Chuck Berry's 1955 classic " Maybellene " in particular features
8174-462: The Clock". Although only a minor hit when first released, when used in the opening sequence of the movie Blackboard Jungle a year later, it set the rock and roll boom in motion. The song became one of the biggest hits in history, and frenzied teens flocked to see Haley and the Comets perform it, causing riots in some cities. "Rock Around the Clock" was a breakthrough success for the group; traditionally,
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#17330942937158308-746: The Diamonds (The Gladiolas' "Little Darlin ' " and Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"), the Crew Cuts (the Chords' "Sh-Boom" and Nappy Brown's "Don't Be Angry"), the Fountain Sisters (The Jewels' "Hearts of Stone") and the Maguire Sisters (The Moonglows' "Sincerely"). Some commentators have suggested a decline of rock and roll starting in 1958. The retirement of Little Richard to become
8442-585: The Flame, Ray attracted the attention of song plugger Bernie Lang, who saw him perform with local DJ Robin Seymour of WKMH. Lang went to New York to sell the singer to Danny Kessler of the Okeh Records label. 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." It
8576-581: The Hollywood Bowl on September 10, 2010. Powell filled in as guest host on Turner Classic Movies for Robert Osborne when he was on medical leave from July 17–23, 2011. On November 5, 1949, Powell married former figure skater Gearhardt Anthony Steffen. The union produced two children, Gearhardt III (born July 21, 1951) and Suzanne Ilene (born November 21, 1952). In 1953, Powell began an affair with Gene Nelson , her married co-star in Three Sailors and
8710-495: The Joint " (1949) (later covered by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1952), " Rocket 88 " by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats ( Ike Turner and his band The Kings of Rhythm and sung by Brenston), was recorded by Sam Phillips in March 1951. This is often cited as the first rock n' roll record. In an interview however, Ike Turner offered this comment: "I don't think that 'Rocket 88'
8844-473: The Louis Prima rocker "Oh Babe" in 1950, as well as Amos Milburn 's cover of what may have been the first white rock and roll record, Hardrock Gunter 's "Birmingham Bounce" in 1949. The most notable trend, however, was white pop covers of black R&B numbers. The more familiar sound of these covers may have been more palatable to white audiences, there may have been an element of prejudice, but labels aimed at
8978-415: The Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark Five . Early British rhythm and blues groups with more blues influences include the Animals , the Rolling Stones , and the Yardbirds . Rock and roll influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes, and language. In addition, rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African-American and European-American teens enjoyed
9112-424: The Portland-based musical group Pink Martini . She also appeared on March 9, 2008, with Pink Martini at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, singing a duet of " Aba Daba Honeymoon " with lead singer China Forbes . In March 2009, she appeared and sang "Love Is Where You Find It" in a show in which Michael Feinstein celebrated movie musicals and MGM musicals in particular. She performed again with Pink Martini at
9246-436: The Ray-Morrison divorce. In a 1953 newspaper interview with James Bacon , Ray blamed rumors about his sexuality for the breakup of his marriage to Morrison. In 1959, 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. Ray went to trial following this second arrest and
9380-414: The United States with the release of his debut album Johnnie Ray (1952), 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, 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 . His career in
9514-535: The United States. After the offers for television stopped, he continued touring, attracting major media attention outside the United States, until he gave his final concert, a benefit for the Grand Theater in Salem, Oregon on October 6, 1989. 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. In early 1990, poor health forced Ray to check into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near his home in Los Angeles. He
9648-621: The age of 25 and with children of her own, she found herself typecast in teenage roles, but she accepted the roles because she needed to support her family. In 1949, Powell sang at Harry S. Truman ’s inaugural ball, and she sang for five U.S. presidents and the queen of England. In 1951, Powell co-starred in the musical comedy Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire as performing siblings. She also appeared that year in Rich, Young and Pretty . She starred in Small Town Girl and Three Sailors and
9782-500: The age of 92. Powell was referred to as one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She secured her place in history with her performance in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers . Despite bouts with severe depression , anxiety and insecurity, Powell retained a public image of the all-American girl-next-door and was a symbol of simpler times. Powell's role in Song of
9916-439: The arrest of Chuck Berry (December 1959), and the death of Eddie Cochran in a car crash (April 1960) gave a sense that the initial phase of rock and roll had come to an end. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the rawer sounds of Presley, Gene Vincent , Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly were commercially superseded by a more polished, commercial style of rock and roll influenced pop music. Marketing frequently emphasized
10050-564: The article said that rock and roll combined R&B with pop and country music. Fats Domino was one of the biggest stars of rock and roll in the early 1950s and he was not convinced that this was a new genre. In 1957, he said: "What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans". According to Rolling Stone , "this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city-bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B,
10184-532: The black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties". Further, Little Richard built his ground-breaking sound of the same era with an uptempo blend of boogie-woogie, New Orleans rhythm and blues, and the soul and fervor of gospel music vocalization. Less frequently cited as an influencer, LaVern Baker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. The Hall remarked that her "fiery fusion of blues, jazz and R&B showcased her alluring vocals and set
10318-553: The charts with " Move It ". At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde and Adam Faith . Cliff Richard and his backing band, the Shadows , were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts included Billy Fury , Joe Brown , and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates , whose 1960 hit song " Shakin' All Over " became
10452-623: The concept of rock and roll had been defined, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term to describe upbeat recordings such as "Rock Me" by Sister Rosetta Tharpe ; her style on that recording was described as "rock-and-roll spiritual singing". By 1943, the "Rock and Roll Inn" in South Merchantville, New Jersey , was established as a music venue. In 1951, Cleveland , Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style, and referring to it as "rock and roll" on his mainstream radio program, which popularized
10586-415: The crossover of African-American "race music" to a growing white youth audience, the popularization of rock and roll involved both black performers reaching a white audience and white musicians performing African-American music. Rock and roll appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States were entering a new phase, with the beginnings of the civil rights movement for desegregation , leading to
10720-512: The development of the genre. Born and raised in Dallas, Oregon , Ray, who was partially deaf , began singing professionally at age 15 on Portland radio stations. He 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 . He rose quickly from obscurity in
10854-588: The development of what was to be defined as rock and roll as a distinct genre. Because the development of rock and roll was an evolutionary process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously "the first" rock and roll record. Contenders for the title of " first rock and roll record " include Sister Rosetta Tharpe 's " Strange Things Happening Every Day " (1944), " That's All Right " by Arthur Crudup (1946), " Move It On Over " by Hank Williams (1947), " The Fat Man " by Fats Domino (1949), Goree Carter 's " Rock Awhile " (1949), and Jimmy Preston 's " Rock
10988-416: The early 20th century was used both to describe the spiritual fervor of black church rituals and as a sexual analogy. A retired Welsh seaman named William Fender can be heard singing the phrase "rock and roll" when describing a sexual encounter in his performance of the traditional song " The Baffled Knight " to the folklorist James Madison Carpenter in the early 1930s, which he would have learned at sea in
11122-427: The electric guitar as its centerpiece, adapting his rock band instrumentation from the basic blues band instrumentation of a lead guitar, second chord instrument, bass and drums. In 2017, Robert Christgau declared that "Chuck Berry did in fact invent rock 'n' roll", explaining that this artist "came the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together". Rock and roll arrived at
11256-511: The electric guitar, creating what is instantly recognizable as rock guitar. This proposal by Richards neglects the black guitarists who did the same thing before Berry, such as Goree Carter , Gatemouth Brown , and the originator of the style, T-Bone Walker . Country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll. Inspired by electric blues , Chuck Berry introduced an aggressive guitar sound to rock and roll, and established
11390-451: The electronic treatment of sound by such innovators as Joe Meek , and the " Wall of Sound " productions of Phil Spector , continued desegregation of the charts, the rise of surf music , garage rock and the Twist dance craze. Surf rock in particular, noted for the use of reverb-drenched guitars, became one of the most popular forms of American rock of the early 1960s. While the sounds of
11524-526: The ensemble cast of the film 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, Mitzi Gaynor as his sister, and Marilyn Monroe as his sister-in-law. His second and final film role was a cameo as a police officer in Rogue's Gallery , which was intended for release to cinemas in 1968 but was withdrawn. It wasn't seen publicly until NBC telecast it in 1972, and it never
11658-581: The extent that in 1953 he brought a male lover into the third-floor master bedroom of his and Dorothy's new home, a five-story townhouse on Manhattan 's East 68th Street. After Kilgallen caught the two men in a compromising position, she and Kollmar decided to stay married strictly for business. Their business included a talk radio show they broadcast from home every day that brought them large salaries and that promoted Broadway shows produced by Kollmar. "Dorothy and Dick", as their radio listeners knew them, discussed Ray's singing style on their program, according to
11792-742: The family to move to Oakland, California , to attract Hollywood talent agents. After three months of living in a hotel room, the family returned to Portland, and her father took a job managing a Banbury Cross apartment building. While living in Banbury Cross, Powell took singing lessons. When Powell was 12 years old, a talent promoter helped her get selected as the Oregon Victory Girl. She began singing on Portland radio station KOIN and traveled Oregon for two years, singing and selling victory bonds. While vacationing in California in 1943, Powell won
11926-466: The fifties record buying public Ray was something of a former-day Leonard Cohen or a Morrissey , creating a body of work that was the very definition of depressionfest. With titles like "What's the Use", "Oh, What a Sad, Sad Day", and "Here I Am Broken Hearted", coupled with a stage show that was as emotionally draining as a revival meeting, Ray dominated the pre-rock & roll charts. Scholar Cheryl Herr notes
12060-462: The first definition. In the earliest rock and roll styles, either the piano or saxophone was typically the lead instrument. These instruments were generally replaced or supplemented by the electric guitar in the mid-to-late 1950s. The beat is essentially a dance rhythm with an accentuated backbeat , almost always provided by a snare drum . Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or more electric guitars (one lead , one rhythm ) and
12194-495: The floor, and crying on stage. Ray quickly earned the nicknames "Mr. Emotion", "The Nabob of Sob", "The Prince of Wails", and several others. One source states that Ray "opened the way for Elvis and the overt sexual energy of rock and roll ... [and] is credited by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elton John as being a formative influence on their artistic styles". As well, Ray's manager said that Elvis Presley often watched Johnnie's concerts. 20th Century Fox executives included him in
12328-446: The genre did not acquire its name until 1954. According to the journalist Greg Kot , "rock and roll" refers to a style of popular music originating in the United States in the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, rock and roll had developed into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music , though the latter also continued to be known in many circles as rock and roll." For the purpose of differentiation, this article deals with
12462-463: The greatest Black musicians like BB King, Arthur Crudup and Fats Domino. His style of music combined with black influences created controversy during a turbulent time in history. Many other popular rock and roll singers of the time, such as Fats Domino and Little Richard , came out of the black rhythm and blues tradition, making the music attractive to white audiences, and are not usually classed as "rockabilly". Presley popularized rock and roll on
12596-472: The impact of Ray's deafness on his unique performing style and vocals, writing, "[Ray was] a singer whose hearing range appears literally to have defined the contour of his performance, the nature of his short-lived popularity, and his enduring iconic status in pre-rock and proto-rock." Archival footage of Ray arriving at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 was featured in the 1982 music video for Dexys Midnight Runners ' hit single " Come On Eileen ". The lyrics of
12730-554: The latest dance and fashion styles. From the mid-1960s on, as "rock and roll" was rebranded as "rock", later dance genres followed, leading to funk , disco , house , techno , and hip hop . Jane Powell In the 1950s Powell starred in the film noir The Female Animal (1958) and adventure film Enchanted Island (1958). She made appearances on stage in My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music , and television appearances in guest roles on The Love Boat (1981–1982) and
12864-399: The levees and plantations, took in folk songs, and features blues and rhythm". In discussing Alan Freed's contribution to the genre, two significant sources emphasized the importance of African-American rhythm and blues. Greg Harris, then the executive director of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, offered this comment to CNN : "Freed's role in breaking down racial barriers in U.S. pop culture in
12998-496: The music business in his native United States began to decline in 1957, and his American record label dropped him in 1960. He never regained a strong following there and rarely appeared on American television after 1973. Ray’s last television appearance in the United States was on a 1977 syndicated broadcast of Sha Na Na . His fanbases in the United Kingdom and Australia remained strong until his final global concert tour in 1989. British Hit Singles & Albums noted that Ray
13132-525: The music. Many early rock and roll songs dealt with issues of cars, school, dating, and clothing. The lyrics of rock and roll songs described events and conflicts to which most listeners could relate through personal experience. Topics such as sex that had generally been considered taboo began to appear in rock and roll lyrics. This new music tried to break boundaries and express emotions that people were actually feeling but had not discussed openly. An awakening began to take place in American youth culture. In
13266-659: The name of rock and roll". Not often acknowledged in the history of rock and roll, Todd Storz , the owner of radio station KOWH in Omaha , Nebraska, was the first to adopt the Top 40 format (in 1953), playing only the most popular records in rotation. His station, and the numerous others which adopted the concept, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as " Presley , Lewis , Haley , Berry and Domino ". The origins of rock and roll have been fiercely debated by commentators and historians of music. There
13400-545: The notables who helped dedicate Billie Holiday 's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . While Ray's popularity continued to wane in the United States throughout the 1980s, Australian, English and Scottish promoters booked him for large venues as late as 1989, his last year of performing. 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 1951, before Ray became well known, he
13534-471: The ongoing British Invasion. Another example was Bobby Fuller and his group The Bobby Fuller Four , who were especially inspired by Buddy Holly and stuck with a rock and roll style, scoring their most notable hit with "I Fought the Law" (1965). In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture. It shared a common language , had been exposed to American culture through
13668-418: The phrase. Several sources suggest that Freed found the term, used as a synonym for sexual intercourse, on the record " Sixty Minute Man " by Billy Ward and his Dominoes . The lyrics include the line, "I rock 'em, roll 'em all night long". Freed did not acknowledge the suggestion about that source in interviews, and explained the term as follows: "Rock 'n roll is really swing with a modern name. It began on
13802-506: The physical looks of the artist rather than the music, contributing to the successful careers of Ricky Nelson , Tommy Sands , Bobby Vee , Jimmy Clanton , and the Philadelphia trio of Bobby Rydell , Frankie Avalon , and Fabian , who all became "teen idols". Some music historians have also pointed to important and innovative developments that built on rock and roll in this period, including multitrack recording , developed by Les Paul ,
13936-414: The rumors that he fathered Kilgallen's third child. Throughout the 1980s when Eichler managed Ray, historians of popular music did not consider Ray important enough to research his private life, so Eichler was not familiar with the eyewitness accounts that Mark Shaw discovered years later, and Eichler did not ask Ray about possible fatherhood. Ray suffered from alcoholism throughout his life, though during
14070-517: The same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest , the development of jump blues , with its guitar riffs, prominent beats and shouted lyrics, prefigured many later developments. In the documentary film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll , Keith Richards proposes that Chuck Berry developed his brand of rock and roll by transposing the familiar two-note lead line of jump blues piano directly to
14204-520: The song also mention him: "Poor old Johnnie Ray sounded sad upon the radio/Moved a million hearts in mono ." 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 Ray's self-composed hit "I'll Never Fall in Love again" are sampled in Portishead 's 1994 song "Biscuit". He is mentioned in the lyrics of Van Morrison 's 1997 song " Sometimes We Cry " from his album The Healing Game ,
14338-570: The song has been seen as the major breakthrough for the rock and roll genre, as its immense popularity introduced the music to a global audience. In 1956, the arrival of rockabilly was underlined by the success of songs like " Folsom Prison Blues " by Johnny Cash , " Blue Suede Shoes " by Perkins, and the No. 1 hit " Heartbreak Hotel " by Presley. For a few years it became the most commercially successful form of rock and roll. Later rockabilly acts, particularly performing songwriters like Buddy Holly , would be
14472-489: The stage for the rock and roll surge of the Fifties". "Rockabilly" usually (but not exclusively) refers to the type of rock and roll music which was played and recorded in the mid-1950s primarily by white singers such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins , Johnny Cash , and Jerry Lee Lewis , who drew mainly on the country roots of the music. Presley was greatly influenced by and incorporated his style of music with that of some of
14606-612: The stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which in Britain included the Teddy Boys and the rockers . Trad jazz became popular in the UK, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including boogie woogie and the blues . The skiffle craze, led by Lonnie Donegan , used amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of
14740-510: The subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing. At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Rock Around the Clock (1956). Both movies featured the Bill Haley & His Comets hit " Rock Around the Clock ", which first entered the British charts in early 1955 – four months before it reached
14874-753: The title role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown in 1966, as well as the female lead in an Atlanta -based production of Carousel , followed by The Boy Friend at the Carousel Theater in Los Angeles in 1967. Also in 1967, she starred in a touring production of Brigadoon . Next, she portrayed Maria von Trapp in a production of The Sound of Music in 1968. In addition to her stage work, Powell appeared in three television films: Wheeler and Murdoch (1972), The Letters (1973), and Mayday at 40,000 Feet! (1976). In 1972, Powell appeared in
15008-465: The trio performed at a New York club called Marty's on Third Avenue and East 73rd Street in 1981, The New York Times stated, "The fact that Mr. Ray, in the years since his first blush of success, has been seen and heard so infrequently in the United States is somewhat ironic because it was his rhythm and blues style of singing that help[ed] lay the groundwork for the rock-and-roll that turned Mr. Ray's entertainment world around. Recently, Ringo Starr of
15142-451: The way for desegregation, in creating a new form of music that encouraged racial cooperation and shared experience. Many authors have argued that early rock and roll was instrumental in the way both white and black teenagers identified themselves. Several rock historians have claimed that rock and roll was one of the first music genres to define an age group . It gave teenagers a sense of belonging, even when they were alone. Rock and roll
15276-552: The wedding of Esther Williams and Ben Gage . Powell's second feature film was Delightfully Dangerous (1945), then she appeared in Holiday in Mexico (1946), where she met Roddy McDowall , who became a life-long friend. More films followed, including Three Daring Daughters (1948), A Date with Judy (1948), Luxury Liner (1948), Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), and Two Weeks with Love (1950). Powell lamented that, at
15410-799: The white market also had much better distribution networks and were generally much more profitable. Famously, Pat Boone recorded sanitized versions of songs recorded by the likes of Fats Domino, Little Richard, the Flamingos and Ivory Joe Hunter. Later, as those songs became popular, the original artists' recordings received radio play as well. The cover versions were not necessarily straightforward imitations. For example, Bill Haley's incompletely bowdlerized cover of " Shake, Rattle and Roll " transformed Big Joe Turner's humorous and racy tale of adult love into an energetic teen dance number, while Georgia Gibbs replaced Etta James ' tough, sarcastic vocal in "Roll With Me, Henry" (covered as "Dance With Me, Henry") with
15544-530: Was "a sensation in the 1950s; the heart-wrenching vocal delivery of 'Cry' ... influenced many acts including Elvis , and was the prime target for teen hysteria in the pre-Presley days." Ray's dramatic stage performances and melancholic songs have been credited by music historians as precursory to later performers ranging from Leonard Cohen to Morrissey . John Alvin Ray was born on January 10, 1927, in Dallas, Oregon, to Hazel (née Simkins) and Elmer Ray. Along with older sister Elma, Ray spent part of his childhood on
15678-507: Was Seymour and Lowell Worley of the local office of Columbia Records who persuaded Kessler to have a test record made of Ray. Worley arranged for a record to be cut at 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. However, the deal mysteriously evaporated, and so did Seymour's friendship with Kessler. Ray's first record for
15812-655: Was a commercial failure, underperforming at the box office. The following year, she recorded the song "True Love", which rose to number 15 on the Billboard charts and number 107 on the pop charts for that year, according to the Joel Whitburn compilation. This was her only single to make the charts. Also in 1956, Powell performed the song "I'll Never Stop Loving You" at the 28th Academy Awards . Next, Powell appeared in RKO Pictures ' musical comedy The Girl Most Likely , playing
15946-401: Was a recurring source of concern for older generations, who worried about juvenile delinquency and social rebellion, particularly because, to a large extent, rock and roll culture was shared by different racial and social groups. In America, that concern was conveyed even in youth cultural artifacts such as comic books . In "There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" from True Life Romance (1956),
16080-487: Was also referred to in two Eartha Kitt songs: " Monotonous " from New Faces of 1952 ("I even made Johnnie Ray smile for me"), and "I Want to Be Evil" ("I want to sing songs like the guy who cries"). A fictionalized version of him appears in James Ellroy's 2021 novel Widespread Panic . Bob Dylan has spoken about his very early influences, before he had ever listened to a rock'n'roll record or Hank Williams . Dylan
16214-495: Was arrested in Detroit , Michigan , for soliciting and accosting an undercover male vice-squad police officer for sex in the restroom of the Stone Theatre, a burlesque house. When he appeared in court, he pled guilty to the charges, paid a fine, and was released. Detroit newspapers did not report the story because of his obscurity at the time. After his rise to fame the following year, rumors about his sexuality began to spread as
16348-630: Was born Suzanne Lorraine Burce, the only child of Paul Emerson Burce and Eileen Baker Burce, on April 1, 1929, in Portland, Oregon . Powell began dance lessons when she was 2 years old. By age 5, Powell had appeared on the Portland children's radio program Stars of Tomorrow . She took dance lessons at the Agnes Peters School of Dance, where the Burce family met a talent scout and dance instructor who persuaded
16482-403: Was cast in a recurring guest role on the popular sitcom Growing Pains , in which she played Irma Seaver, the mother of Dr. Jason Roland Seaver ( Alan Thicke ). The same year, in May 1988, Powell married her longtime companion, former child actor Dickie Moore . The couple had met while Moore was performing research for his autobiography Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, but Don't Have Sex or Take
16616-501: 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. On February 24, 1990, he died of hepatic encephalopathy resulting from liver failure at Cedars-Sinai. Kay Starr was among those who spoke at a public memorial service held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. He
16750-463: Was distributed to theaters. In the 1980s when Ray was asked why he never had made another widely seen film after There's No Business Like Show Business , he replied, "I was never asked." In the 1950s, after both sides of the single "Cry"/"The Little White Cloud That Cried" ran their course, more hit songs followed. They included " Please, Mr. Sun ", " Such a Night ", " Walkin' My Baby Back Home ", "A Sinner Am I", and " Yes, Tonight Josephine ". He scored
16884-436: Was found not guilty. Two years after his death, several friends shared with biographer Jonny Whiteside their knowledge that Ray was bisexual. According to Ray's two biographers, Jonny Whiteside and Tad Mann, he did not have a close relationship with a man or a woman during the 13 years he lived after Bill Franklin stopped interacting with him and phoning him. Ray did maintain a loyal friendship with his road manager Tad Mann, who
17018-529: Was in a production of Oklahoma! in Dallas , Texas, in 1958. The following year, she co-starred with Tab Hunter , Patty Duke , and Myrna Loy in a television remake of the musical Meet Me in St. Louis . She starred in a stage production of The Most Happy Fella (1962). In 1962, Powell made her debut appearance on the television series The Red Skelton Show , in which she appeared in numerous episodes until 1972. In 1964, Powell starred as Eliza Doolittle in
17152-707: Was married with five children. When Ray gave parties at his Los Angeles home in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, frequent guests included Mann (real name Harold Gaze Mann III), and actress Jane Withers . According to lawyer and researcher Mark Shaw, Ray's relationship with Dorothy Kilgallen produced her youngest child Kerry Kollmar, whom her husband Richard Kollmar disowned after Kilgallen's death in 1965. In two books that Shaw has authored, he claims that Kilgallen remained faithful to her husband for 13 years, ignoring rumors of his extramarital affairs because she did not witness evidence of any of them during that time frame. After years of infidelity, Kollmar became careless, to
17286-454: Was nice and a very funny man,” Powell admitted. "But I was disappointed when I got the part. I didn't really want to be away from home, but I had never done a new show and that seemed exciting at first. But I didn't have much to do and the part wasn't too jovial." On New Year's Eve 2007, Powell returned to her hometown of Portland, Oregon, to narrate Sergei Prokofiev 's Peter and the Wolf with
17420-558: Was not available for sale, and he did not appear on American television during the first half of the 1960s. Consequently, American newspapers ran display ads for his concerts but reported nothing about his life, such as marital status, offstage behavior, or health issues. It was not until December 1966 that Ray returned to American television, and even then it was only in a program telecast locally in Chicago, but not elsewhere, titled An Evening with Johnnie Ray . Video footage of this performance
17554-410: Was on a 1977 syndicated broadcast of Sha Na Na . His American revival turned out to be short-lived, as his career had already begun to decline as the 1980s approached. In 1981, Ray hired Alan Eichler as his manager and resumed performing with an instrumental trio rather than with the large orchestras to which he and his audiences had been accustomed for the first 25 years of his career. When Ray and
17688-460: Was quoted as saying, "Before that, Johnny [sic] Ray. He was the first singer whose voice and style, I guess, I totally fell in love with. There was just something about the way he sang 'When Your Sweetheart Sends A Letter'...that just knocked me out. I loved his style, wanted to dress like him too." Rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll , rock-n-roll , rock 'n' roll , rock n' roll , Rock n' Roll or proto-rock )
17822-476: Was reviewed by Whiteside in the early 1990s, and he wrote in his biography that Ray appeared emaciated and unhealthy. In 1969, shortly after 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. He instead resumed drinking heavily, and his health began to decline. Despite this, in the early 1970s he appeared several times on prime-time network television in
17956-466: Was used in 1940s recordings and reviews of what became known as " rhythm and blues " music aimed at a black audience. Huey "Piano" Smith credits Cha Cha Hogan , a jump-blues shouter and comic in New Orleans, with popularizing the term in his 1950 song "My Walking Baby". In 1934, the song "Rock and Roll" by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round . In 1942, before
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