Guy Mitchell was born Albert Cernik in 1927 and recorded for King Records as Al Grant. When he signed with Columbia Records, label president Mitch Miller rechristened him Guy Mitchell.
He became one of the smooth, sports-jacketed American singers to be washed away by the mid-50s rock revolution. He made the original version of Singing The Blues which was #1 in Britain and the US in 1957 (Tommy Steele also made #1 in Britain with his cover version of the song).
Mitchell also scored in 1957 with Knee Deep In The Blues and Rock-A-Billy, but despite his attempts to accommodate himself to the new music, after Heartaches By The Numbers in 1959 he rapidly faded from popularity.
By the late 1960s he had retired, though he later returned to the nostalgia circuit.
Mitchell died on 1 July 1999 in Las Vegas, from surgical complications. He was 72.
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