John Gary (2)

JOHN GARY - CATCH A RISING STAR (1963)

1. This Is All I Ask    
2. My Kind of Girl    
3. Once Upon a Time    
4. Till the Birds Sing in the Morning
5. Your Cheatin' Heart    
6. Yellow Bird    
7. Unchained Melody    
8. Half as Much    
9. More    
10. The Possum Song    
11. Somewhere Along the Way    
12. Ebb Tide

John Gary was almost 31 years old when RCA Victor records released his major-label debut, Catch a Rising Star, its Top Ten success and year-plus in the charts making him an "overnight sensation." But though he might have seemed a little long in the tooth, he had actually been a child prodigy who had been knocking around the entertainment business since he played a singing newsboy in the James Cagney film The Time of Your Life in 1948. But by the time he was ready to make his mark as a pop singer in the mid-'50s, all the record companies wanted to sign was rock & roll acts, and he was only able to attract the attention of small independents until RCA finally decided the rock & roll fad was over -- just before the start of the British Invasion. Catch a Rising Star seemed designed to showcase Gary's multi-octave voice, with its soaring tenor that crossed over into falsetto without any break, rather than to give him a hit record, since the songs were mostly familiar. He covered material associated with Tony Bennett and Nat "King" Cole, presented his own versions of some '50s and '60s hits, and displayed considerable versatility going from country tunes like Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart" to the Caribbean-style "Yellow Bird," which sounded like the sort of thing his labelmate Harry Belafonte was known for. In some respects, he resembled Johnny Ray, but without the hysterical overstatement. His individual approach was best appreciated on "Unchained Melody," which he began with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment and deliberately undersang, in contrast to the many over-the-top versions of the well-known song. Such performances set Gary apart from his competitors on the supper club circuit and seemed to bode an important new figure in sophisticated pop singing. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

JOHN GARY - SINGS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE SONGS (1965)

A1.All The Things You Are
A2.Night And Day        
A3.Fascination        
A4.Star Dust        
A5.As Time Goes By        
A6.Smoke Gets In Your Eyes        
B1.I Left My Heart In San Francisco        
B2.Autumn Leaves        
B3.Some Enchanted Evening (From The Musical "South Pacific"        
B4.Deep Purple            
B5.Tonight (From "West Side Story"          
B6.You'll Never Walk Alone (From The Musical "Carousel"

A pleasing vocalist with a warm delivery reminiscent of Andy Williams or Tony Bennett, John Gary unfortunately came along just at the beginning of the British Invasion and never managed to make much of an impression on the adult vocal audience. Born in 1932 in Watertown, New York, he was a singer on Don McNeill's radio show Breakfast Club before signing a contract with RCA Records in 1962. Though only one single charted on the U.S. pop charts -- the Top 100 "Soon I'll Wed My Love" in 1964 -- John Gary did reach the Top 20 with mid-'60s LPs such as The Nearness of You, Encore, and A Little Bit of Heaven, and fared even better on the easy listening charts (with albums including the number one Cold) and Cash Box, where Gary albums hit the Top Ten twice. He also covered a wide repertoire for the time, from show tunes to country hits and romantic ballads -- though, remarkably, very few of the novelty pop songs which dragged down fellow vocalists. Gary died January 4, 1998. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide