Ray Burns (singer)

Ray Burns (born Reuben Klot; 1 April 1923 – 9 December 2000)^[1] was a British singer, active in the 1950s, who had a top five hit single in 1955.

Burns was born of Russian ancestry as Reuben Klot in the East End of London, England, in 1923.^[2] He was Jewish, and the uncle of the singer Georgia Brown. Prior to the Second World War, he was as a leading member of the Brady Boys Concert Party, Britain's first Jewish boys' club.^[3][4] During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force.^[2]

Burns entered showbusiness when a friend of the comedian Issy Bonn heard him singing in a barber shop;^[5] Bonn took Burns on as a dresser, taught him singing techniques, and had him perform a song during his stage shows.^[6] Burns' career took a step forward in 1949, when the orchestra leader Ambrose heard him sing at the Blue Lagoon club in London^[2] and offered him a job.^[7]

Burns was a regular singer with the BBC Show Band, under the leadership of Cyril Stapleton, in the 1950s,^[8] and recorded a number of singles for Columbia Records between 1953 and 1958, two of which reached the UK singles chart.^[2] The bigger hit, a cover of the David Holt/Bob Wells song "Mobile" (with the Eric Jupp Orchestra), which had been a hit in the United States for Julius La Rosa, reached number 4 in both the New Musical Express and Record Mirror^[9] charts in March 1955. The second, "That's How a Love Song Was Born" (with The Coronets), reached number 14 in the NME chart later in the year; at the time Record Mirror only had a top 10 chart, expanding to a top 20 in October 1955, just as the single dropped out of the NME top 20.^[10]

Burns' career turned to cabaret and smaller scale performances as the musical scene changed, but he made one final television appearance on Barrymore in the 1990s.^[11]

Burns and his wife Tilly had two children, Larry and Gillian. Gillian performed with her father in a double act in the 1970s, and won an episode of New Faces in 1977.^[12]