Ral Donner - I didn't figure on him to come back
I recieved some nice commets when I posted She's everything by Ral Donner. however after reading a few that said they like it or that he had a good voice I somehow got the impression they never heard of Ral Donner .....
At age 12 Ral sang at school assemblies singing hits of the time such as "Dungaree Doll" and "Rock And Roll Waltz". The next year, 1956, came crashing in with tunes such as "Rock Around The Clock", "Heartbreak Hotel" and "My Baby Left Me". 13 year old Ralph was hooked by rock 'n' roll's boundless energy and emotional freedom. By this time he had learned to play piano, guitar and accordion. Ral graduated from Onahan Grammar School in June 1956 then in September he became a student at Taft High School in the Norwood Park area of Chicago. Ral's first public appearance as a Rock'n'Roll singer took place on September 6, 1957 at a Taft High School Dance. Ral was accompanied on piano by John Sadler who had composed songs for Bing Crosby. In the fall of 1957 Ral and some fellow High School students formed a rock 'n' roll band - The Rockin' Five (Ral, Al Sears, Jim Szott, Jack Burke, Phil Foss and Doug Cyrex). The group debut was on November 1st 1957 at a Taft High social. They played at high school dances and also entered local amateur talent contests - they won first prize at several of these contests. Ral cut his first demo record on January 3rd 1958 - an acetate recording of "Miss Ann" b/w "Oh Boy!" credited to Ralph Donner and the Rockin' Five.
"Miss Ann" and "Oh Boy!" were recorded in Chicago in a studio but I'm not sure of the studio name or address althought it might have been Universal. I know that I recorded two Christmas songs with Ralph at Universal a couple of years later ("These are the things that make up Christmas Day" and "Second Miracle"). The "Miss Ann" session did no go well. The recording engineer did nothing to enhance the sound which came out dead and lifeless. We of course had never been in a recording studio before and we were just kids so I guess we didn't know what to expect. Also it was the late 50's and the instruments we took in were three guitars and two drum sets (actually one and a half drum sets since Doug really didn't play much on drums). In retrospect we needed to use a Kay bass that I think Jack had and ask for some reverb on the sound. The Christmas tunes were much more professional and actually pretty cool.
- Al Sears October 19th 2006.
Length: 126
Rating: 4.70 (6 ratings)
Tags: Ral Donner didn;t figure on him pop oldie elvis
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