Fifties balladeer Johnnie Ray, known as the "Prince of Wails" for his vocal histrionics on such songs as "Somebody Stole My Gal" and "Just Walkin' in the Rain," died Saturday of liver failure. He was 63.
Ray, who had entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Feb. 16 with liver failure, died at 4 p.m., hospital spokesman Ron Wise said."His family and friends were with him at the time of his death," Wise said.
In the early 1950s, the slender, boyish singer revolutionized popular music with his unique blend of rhythm and blues, country and gospel punctuated with authentic-sounding sobs.
Some said his raw and emotional style opened the door to a new type of music that later became rock 'n' roll.
Ray's first hit record was "Cry," followed by "The Little White Cloud That Cried," "Please Mr. Sun," "Brokenhearted, " "What's the Use," "Somebody Stole My Gal," "Who's Sorry Now," and "Yes Tonight Josephine."
"Cry," perhaps Ray's greatest hit, has sold more than 25 million copies since its original release, said his publicist, Alan Eichler.
Ray's raw and emotional style was controversial for the early 1950s, and he drew huge crowds in nightclub appearances in New York and elsewhere.
As the press reached for phrases to describe his performance, Ray was crowned at various times as "The Prince of Wails," "The Nabob of Sob," "The Howling Success," `The Song Wringer," "The Cry Guy" and the "Master of Misery."
"Of course the days are gone of the screaming teen-agers - and nobody had them screaming more than I did," Ray recalled in a 1984 interview with the Associated Press.
"But even in those days I had the same kind of audience I have now - the elderly, the middle-aged and the young kids," he said. "I don't have a TV series, I've had no hit records."
Ray was born Jan. 10, 1927, in Dallas, Ore., a tiny town near Salem.
It was there he saw his first movie when he was 3 or 4. "It was Edna Mae Oliver in `Murder on the Blackboard,' and from then on I wanted to be a movie star," he told the AP.
In 1954, Darryl F. Zanuck gave him a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox, and he appeared with Ethel Merman, Dan Dailey, Marilyn Monroe, Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor in "There's No Business Like Show Business."
His movie career ended, however, when Zanuck resigned to become an independent producer. Ray recalled that the new chief at Fox was not a fan.
Ray's success as a recording artist also waned in the United States as other forms of rock 'n' roll gained popularity.
But he remained popular in England and Australia.