Though Johnnie Ray had a number of hits in the first half of the 1950s, it's his 1952 smash "Cry" for which he's best remembered. Partially deaf and secretly gay, Ray cut an unconventional figure onstage, with a theatrical, emotionally wounded persona that split the difference between R&B and more conventional white male pop idols. Ray favored a melodramatic vocal style on hits such as "The Little White Cloud That Cried" that earned him the nickname "The Prince of Wails," and helped establish his reputation as the first white pop star to sing in an authentically black ghetto style.

Listen to Johnnie Ray at Finetune.

• (1996)  High Drama: The Real Johnnie Ray
• (1952)  16 Most Requested Songs

• Cry
• Just Walking In The Rain
• The Little White Cloud That Cried
• Walkin' My Baby Back Home
• Just Walkin' In The Rain

• Carl Perkins
• Johnny Horton
• Big Joe Turner
• Screamin' Jay Hawkins
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Sid King & The Five Strings
• Bobby Lord
• Billy Brown
• Lady Elvis (Dawn Anita Plumlee)
• Pat Cupp
• The Collins Kids
• Ronnie Self
• Charlie Adams
• Rose Maddox
• Cliff Johnson
• Dave Taylor
• DK Davis
• Ersel Hickey
• Little Rachel
• Onie Wheeler

• peterh