John Gary

Former Mad Lads frontman John Gary Williams launched his solo career with this 1973 release for Stax, produced and written to a great extent by Williams himself. The Memphis R&B singer also breathes new life into covers of songs by the Four Tops, the Spinners and Bobby Goldsboro.

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. This album have been released for RCA Victor label in October 1968.

The best of crooner John Gary is collected on this 20-cut anthology, which runs the gamut from show tunes to romantic ballads and country favorites over the course of songs including "My Foolish Heart," "Once Upon a Time" and "If Ever I Would Leave You." ~ AllMusic Review by Jason Ankeny

This new recording for George Buck's Audiophile label features John backed by the Bill Keck Ensemble on 16 Porter classics: Night and Day; Just One of Those Things; Begin the Beguine , and more.

John Gary (born John Gary Strader; November 29, 1932 – January 4, 1998) was an American singer, recording artist, television host, and performer on the musical stage. From Watertown, New York, Gary started singing at the age of 5. He joined his older sister, Shirley Strader. At the age of 9, he won a 3-year scholarship to the prestigious Cathedral School of St John in Manhattan. He auditioned for the choir master, Norman Coke-Jeffcott. At the age of 10, Gary had won two pins of distinction from the American Theatre Wing Merchant Seaman's Club for the Stage Door Canteen. Aged 12, he toured the southern states with Frank Pursley, a blind pianist for the Mason Conservatory.

John Gary was a singer with a three-octave range and amazing breath control, and was admired by many of his contemporaries, but didn’t really reach the level of fame attained by a lot of lesser singers. Although he had a fairly long career, appearing in various venues and selling a lot of records, he just never quite managed to attain star status.

"A Single Man", released in 1978, is the 12th studio album release for Elton John. It is the first album where Gary Osborne replaced Bernie Taupin as lyricist. It is also the only Elton John album to not have any tracks co-written by Bernie Taupin on the original cut. The album was released on 16 October 1978 by MCA in America, and by Rocket in the UK. Singles from the album were "Part-Time Love", October 1978; "Song for Guy", November 1978; and "Return to Paradise", 1979. "Song for Guy" was a near-global success, charting high everywhere except the US and Canada, where John's label, MCA Records, did not feel that it had hit potential. "A Single Man" was John's first album ever to be officially released in the former USSR. In the US, A Single Man was certified Gold in October 1978 and Platinum in November of the same year by the RIAA. Like with many of John's releases of the late-70s and the 1980s, it received generally mixed reviews from critics.

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.

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.

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.