Track Listing

1. Just Walkin' In The Rain
2. Hey There
3. Cry
4. Such A Night
5. Little White Cloud That Cried
6. Faith Can Move Mountains
7. Let's Walk That A Way
8. Paths Of Paradise
9. Here I Am Broken Hearted
10. Who's Sorry Now
11. Somebody Stole My Gal
12. Hernando's Hideaway
13. All Of Me
14. You Don't Owe Me A Thing
15. Build Your Love (On A Strong Foundation)
16. Ain't Misbehavin'
17. I'll Never Fall In Love Again
18. Please Mr Sun
19. Yes Tonight Josephine
20. If You Believe
21. Look Homeward Angel
22. Song Of The Dreamer
23. As Time Goes By
24. Walkin' My Baby Back Home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37669 in Music
• Released on: 1996-05-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

A recording that you realise you know all the words
On this disc are the songs that Johnny made his own, starting with Walking in the Rain and ending with Walking my Baby Back Home he sings in his own unique style, through ballads and swing.Twenty four songs that when you hear again after a number of years you realise that you are singing along with the Master word and tune perfect and you are back at the theatre in your memory watching Johnny Ray standing in that hunched way with the screams of the girls filling the auditorium.This recording takes you back when?

Never Equalled!
The music on here is self-evidently the best of Mr Ray's hit output. It gives you very graphic evidence of his origins as a jazz band singer and, like early Elvis Presley, you will also appreciate how much black music he listened to before he became a big star.

Personally, being born in March 1952 means I can't tell you what was number 1 when I popped out-no charts in the UK until Nov that year.

Actually, there's no doubt who WOULD have been there if there'd been a chart then-JOHNNIE RAY. The only doubt would be which of the 4 songs from 2 successive double-sided hits would have been on top over here-because all 4 titles concerned were cemented fast in Billboard's top ten at the time! Something only the Beatles have equalled in the 53 years since!

Better people than me have an affinity with Johnnie-HM Queen Elizabeth officially announced her sorrow at Johnnie's death in 1990, remembering that Johnny had taken British airwaves by storm from 1951 with Cry. This was before her father died & while she could still be young and carefree. Nice one, Mrs Windsor-exquisite taste!

Johnnie was massive in Britain for at least 5 further years. Several London streets were blocked solid in 1953, with thousands of people who'd just seen him at the Palladium and didn't want their first taste of magic ending. He DID disperse them, but only after an unrehearsed 30 mins encore from the stage-door roof. If you get the impression the guy was mustard and had the world eating out of his hand---dead right!

I've got this CD on as I write this review. Just to confirm what made him so huge. Yep, that voice!! He had a hell of a range in tone and styles, but was always instantly recognisible, whether you came from Manchester, Minsk or Mars.

Finally, Johnnie Ray could never give less than 110% whenever he sang & that's mostly why he died at only 63. A star with that attitude deserves your immediate savouring of his genius on the CD machine. As I will be following him with The Bravery, you'll also know the guy's leapt the generation gap again and is still quite an epitome of style & no little cool.

Popular American singer of the fifties
Johnnie Ray began his career in the late forties and had a steady run of hits until the end of the fifties, surviving the rock'n'roll revolution. This collection features all Johnnie's British hits and the majority of his American hits.

In America, Johnnie's most famous song is Cry, with which he topped the American charts in 1949. Lynn Anderson had a major country hit with it in the seventies and Crystal Gayle repeated Lynn's feat in the eighties. Many other country singers have also covered Cry, Willie Nelson among them.

Apart from Cry, Johnnie had several other big hits in America. Little white cloud that could (the flip side of Cry) and Just walking in the rain both reached number two. Johnnie also made the top ten with Please Mr Sun, Here am I broken hearted (the flip side of Please Mr Sun), Somebody stole my gal and You don't owe me a thing. He had many other American hits but his chart history in Britain is more impressive despite there being no charts before November 1952.

Johnnie had three number one hits in the UK, these being Such a night (1954), Just walking in the rain (1956) and Yes tonight Josephine (1957). He had seven other UK top ten hits - Faith can move mountains, Somebody stole my gal, Let's walk that-a-way (with Doris Day), If you believe, Hey there, Song of the dreamer and Look homeward angel. It is reasonable to assume he would have had many more hits if record charts had started earlier. There were sheet music charts but I know nothing about them.

Johnnie ended his British and American chart careers with I'll never fall in love again. Tom Jones later had a hit with a similarly titled song. Furthermore, it is also the title of a classic Bacharach-David song with which Bobbie Gentry topped the UK charts. All three songs are completely different despite their identical titles.

Johnnie was a huge international star in the fifties, yet is almost totally forgotten now. This CD is a reminder of his former status. If you want to explore his music in greater depth, more comprehensive compilations are available, but this contains all the essentials.