345 posts tagged “elvis”
Ral Donner had moderate success as a 1960s Rock & Roller, but was best remembered for his voice, which sounded almost exactly like Elvis Presley's! - Here is a lesser known recording by Ral Donner "Will You Love Me In Heaven", which I feel is as good or better than many of his hits. Enjoy, and please take a moment to rate and comment.
a beautiful song from ral,dougal.
golden oldie from ral
another part of the elvis tribute from ral.
this ones for angelize
great song
Ralph Stuart Donner, 10 February 1943, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 6 April 1984, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Donner had a short string of US chart singles in the early 60s, most notably the number 4 "You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It)". He began singing in church in his teens and formed his first band at the age of 13, and began touring two years later. Building a reputation for a singing voice uncannily similar to that of Elvis Presley, Donner chose a Presley album track, "Girl Of My Best Friend", for his attempt to breakthrough. After recording it in Florida, Donner leased the track to Gone Records and it ultimately climbed to number 19 in the US charts.
I recieved some nice commets when I posted She's everything by Ral Donner. however after reading a few that said they like it or that he had a good voice I somehow got the impression they never heard of Ral Donner .....
At age 12 Ral sang at school assemblies singing hits of the time such as "Dungaree Doll" and "Rock And Roll Waltz". The next year, 1956, came crashing in with tunes such as "Rock Around The Clock", "Heartbreak Hotel" and "My Baby Left Me". 13 year old Ralph was hooked by rock 'n' roll's boundless energy and emotional freedom. By this time he had learned to play piano, guitar and accordion. Ral graduated from Onahan Grammar School in June 1956 then in September he became a student at Taft High School in the Norwood Park area of Chicago. Ral's first public appearance as a Rock'n'Roll singer took place on September 6, 1957 at a Taft High School Dance. Ral was accompanied on piano by John Sadler who had composed songs for Bing Crosby. In the fall of 1957 Ral and some fellow High School students formed a rock 'n' roll band - The Rockin' Five (Ral, Al Sears, Jim Szott, Jack Burke, Phil Foss and Doug Cyrex). The group debut was on November 1st 1957 at a Taft High social. They played at high school dances and also entered local amateur talent contests - they won first prize at several of these contests. Ral cut his first demo record on January 3rd 1958 - an acetate recording of "Miss Ann" b/w "Oh Boy!" credited to Ralph Donner and the Rockin' Five.
"Miss Ann" and "Oh Boy!" were recorded in Chicago in a studio but I'm not sure of the studio name or address althought it might have been Universal. I know that I recorded two Christmas songs with Ralph at Universal a couple of years later ("These are the things that make up Christmas Day" and "Second Miracle"). The "Miss Ann" session did no go well. The recording engineer did nothing to enhance the sound which came out dead and lifeless. We of course had never been in a recording studio before and we were just kids so I guess we didn't know what to expect. Also it was the late 50's and the instruments we took in were three guitars and two drum sets (actually one and a half drum sets since Doug really didn't play much on drums). In retrospect we needed to use a Kay bass that I think Jack had and ask for some reverb on the sound. The Christmas tunes were much more professional and actually pretty cool.
- Al Sears October 19th 2006.
Terry Stafford - Sospetto (Suspicion, 1965)
Rock And Roll - The Early Days - Bill Haley...Elvis Presley
