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Ral Donner
Biography
Ral Donner is the classic example of a musician who was doomed to a marginal career by the very attribute that got him public notice in the first place. In a period during which Elvis Presley was the quintessential rock & roll star, Donner was the most successful of all the Elvis sound-alikes, getting a career, a year's worth of charting singles, and years of steady work out of the fact that his singing bore an uncanny resemblance to the King of Rock & Roll's ballad style. He was never able to transcend those beginnings, however. Donner was part of American rock & roll's third wave, young enough to have been a fan of Elvis Presley when the latter first emerged nationally. Born in Chicago in 1943, he started singing in church choirs as a boy, and by his early teens was a regular competitor in local talent contests. He organized his two groups -- the Rockin' Five and then the Gents -- while still in his teens. His work with the Rockin' Five in his high school days was good enough to get them on television in Chicago, even earning a spot alongside Sammy Davis Jr. on one show. At 17, he broke through to Alan Freed's Big Beat show and, in 1959, appeared at the Apollo Theatre in New York.
Selected Discography
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