Ral Donner

Ralph Stuart Emanuel Donner ( born February 10, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, † April 6, 1984 ibid ), better known as Ral Donner, was an American rock and roll singer and songwriter whose voice of the Elvis Presley was similar.

Life

Childhood

Donner was born the last of four children of Mr and Mrs Ralph and Kathryn thunder. He had two brothers and a sister.

Because it was common in his family to spend free evenings together at the piano, his musical interest was awakened and encouraged early. Already at the age of eight, he had as part of a religious convention, entitled Youth For Christ rally his first public appearance in the concert hall of his hometown of Chicago, where he gave the gospel song It Is No Secret for the best. Soon he was involved in the church choir of Norwood Park Baptist Church, which was transferred from a local remote transmitter 1954. On this occasion he sang the song The Old Rugged Cross.

Career

His first public appearance as a rock and roll singer had thunder on September 6, 1957 at a dance event of the visited Chicago Taft High School. On January 3, 1958, he recorded his first demo single, which contained the songs Miss Ann and Oh Boy.

With the remake of the only recently been recorded by Elvis song Girl Of My Best Friend ( the number one on the UK singles charts was released in the U.S. but did not appear to single ), he managed to break through. His version came music magazine Billboard, according to the number 19 and reached the U.S. top ten in his hometown of Chicago even second place (according to WLS Radio 's Silver Dollar Survey).

He landed his biggest hit with the song You Do not Know What You've Got, which was released in June 1961 and reached the fourth place in the U.S. charts ( Billboard ) in September.

That it should go steeply downhill with his career soon, was due to tensions with his record producer, who was with the royalties payment in arrears. Therefore Donner refused further co-operation and was considering changing the record company. Morris Levy, the owner of his previous contractor, but had the best connections in the music business and threatened him with serious consequences, should thunder terminate the cooperation. Indeed, it was for him then extremely difficult to get a new record deal. Finally, after a hard year without commitment, he worked for various record companies, brought in a company but rarely more than just a single on the market. The death of Elvis should get him to make a comeback (see next section).

Illness and death

In 1977, acute discomfort in lung area presented a. Thunder consulted so the Chicago Swedish Covenant Hospital, but could there find no evidence of a serious condition. In the spring of 1980, severe coughing bouts featured a who no longer disappeared. The end of August, he woke up one night and had a coughing fit, in which he spat blood. Accompanied by his wife Linda, he went directly to the emergency department of the Swedish Covenant Hospital, where x-rayed his chest and each found a spot in both lungs. Further investigations corroborated the initial suspicion of lung cancer. We found a very competent physician, the thunder in the Chicago Rush -Presbyterian -St. Luke's Hospital referred, where he was operated on several times and received the best care possible. He died at the age of only 41 years and was survived by his wife Linda and his two sons Ral (* 1972) and Erik ( born 1979 ).

Ral Donner and Elvis Presley

When I first heard Ral I thought this guy sure sounds like Elvis! (Steve Alaimo )

Although thunder was his life an ardent supporter of Frank Sinatra, his musical career was most strongly influenced by Elvis Presley. As a boy of fourteen, he attended an Elvis concert, which influenced him deeply in his hometown of Chicago. It was the same twenty years later. The news of the death of the King of Rock'n'Roll shocked him deeply, but at the same time spurred him to make a comeback, because he wanted to devote his idol, an obituary in the form of a song. It was The Day The Beat Stopped, which was released on single in early 1978, and later on the LP To Elvis - Love Still Burning appeared, paid homage to the still more entertainers in the late rock legend.

Shortly before his own death, honor him Elvis ( This is Elvis ) was given, in the documentary This is his idol to lend his voice as he spoke the lyrics that Elvis was pushed into his mouth.

Twice he met Elvis in person on whose estate in Beverly Hills: in September 1961 and in October 1962 Donner told later. "When I met Elvis for the second time, he was too slow and hanging his head at me. As he got closer, he raised his head with that famous grin and To Love Someone started singing that moved me deeply. He said that it was a great song. "

Songs ( selection)

  • A Tear In My Eye
  • Beyond The Heartbreak
  • Girl Of My Best Friend
  • I Did not Figure On Him
  • I Got Burned
  • I Wish This Night Would Never End
  • Nine Times Out Of Ten
  • Please Do not Go
  • She's Everything
  • So Close To Heaven
  • The Day The Beat Stopped
  • To Love Someone
  • Will You Love Me In Heaven
  • You Do not Know What You've Got
671461
de