Johnnie Ray

Despite being skinny, pigeon-toed, half-deaf and effeminate, this highly emotional performer was the most popular singer of the pre-Elvis era. Indeed, when Elvis first started out he was often introduced on stage as "the new Johnnie Ray".

Though mostly remembered for such lip-quivering hits as The Little White Cloud That Cried, Ray definitely started out on an R&B kick.

Though he would later slip from vaudeville (Somebody Stole My Gal) and show tunes (Hey There) into jukebox hits (Just Walkin' In The Rain), he was always at his most potent preaching his own take on the blues (witness Such A Night or Flip Flop and Fly).