John Gary

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.

Gary sang in movies, on Broadway, had his own prime time network television variety series and appeared at Carnegie Hall, with numerous orchestras. He appeared thirty times as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He traveled across the US and Canada with approximately 40 concerts per year. For six years he gave community concerts in over 400 cities and towns. He recorded 24 albums for RCA Victor.

Prior to national stardom, Gary appeared on local New Orleans television station WDSU-TV, as a regular feature on the noontime television show Midday. He also appeared at the Blue Room of the Roosevelt (later Fairmont) Hotel. He performed The John Gary Show, three fifteen-minute shows a week, presaging his national (CBS) show a decade later, a summer replacement for the Danny Kaye Show.

Gary was considered by many to be one of the most talented of popular singers due to his extraordinary breath control and tonal quality of his voice. He had an exceptionally wide range of 3+1⁄2 octaves. His singing ranged from robust baritone to a high sweet tenor often in the same song. Many popular songs of the time were suited to his intimate style.

Gary first recorded on Fraternity Records between 1958 and 1960.^[1] In 1960, he joined ASCAP and composed several popular songs. After signing with RCA Victor, Gary was nominated for a 1964 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. He was a favorite singer of fellow RCA Victor artist Elvis Presley.^[2] He had five songs that made the adult contemporary (or easy listening) chart in Billboard magazine.^[3] The song "Cold", released in 1967, was his most successful, topping the chart for two weeks at the end of that year.^[3] However, the song failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. In 1968 he voiced John Alden in the Rankin/Bass Animated TV special The Mouse on the Mayflower.

RCA has reissued some of his recordings and a 92-track, four-CD box set on the Collectables label.

He served honorably in the United States Marine Corps.

John Gary died in 1998 at age 65 of cancer in Dallas, Texas.^[3]

Long play albums

More information Year, Album ...

Year	Album	Peak chart positions		Record Label
		Billboard 200 [4]	Cashbox 100 [5]
1961	John Gary	—	—	La Brea
1963	Catch a Rising Star	20	9	RCA Victor
1964	Encore	16	8
	So Tenderly	42	24
	The John Gary Christmas Album	—	—
	David Merrick Presents Hits from His Hits with Ann-Margret	—	—
1965	A Little Bit of Heaven	17	18
	The Nearness of You	11	18
	Your All-Time Favorite Songs	21	33
1966	Choice	51	33
	Your All-Time Country Favorites	65	80
	A Heart Filled with Song	73	30
	The Best of John Gary	—	—
	The One and Only John Gary	—	—	RCA Camden
1967	Especially for You	117	65	RCA Victor
	Spanish Moonlight	90	79
	Carnegie Hall Concert	76	60
	The Best of John Gary	—	—
1968	On Broadway	—	—
	That Warm and Tender Glow	—	—	RCA Camden
	John Gary Sings / John Gary Swings	—	—	RCA Victor
	Holding Your Mind	—	100
1969	Love of a Gentle Woman	192	—
	That's the Way It Was	—	—
1971	This Is John Gary 2-record set	—	—
1975	Constantly	—	—	Kapp / Kama Sutra
1984	Sincerely Yours	—	—	RCA International
19??	In a Class by Himself	—	—	Churchill
????	On Tour	—	—	Briarwood
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Close

Compact discs

• • RCA/BEAUTIFUL MUSIC COMPANY
• All-Time Heart-Touching Favorites (1989)
• Songs of Love & Romance (1996)
  • Sings Cole Porter (1994)
  • RCA
• The Very Best of John Gary (1997)
• The John Gary Christmas Album (2000)
• The Essential John Gary (2001)
  • RCA/COLLECTABLES COL-CD
• The Nearness of You/All-Time Favorite Songs (2002)
• So Tenderly/A Little Bit of Heaven (2002)
• Catch a Rising Star/Encore (2002)
• A Heart Filled With Song/Choice (2003)
• Carnegie Hall Concert (2004)
• The One and Only John Gary/That Warm and Tender Glow (2004)

• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart