Song Of The Dreamer
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Song Of The Dreamer
John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in the development of the genre. Born and raised in Dallas, Oregon, Ray, who was partially deaf, began singing professionally at age fifteen on Portland radio stations. He gained a local following singing at small, predominantly African-American nightclubs in Detroit, where he was discovered in 1949 and subsequently signed to Okeh Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. He rose quickly from obscurity in the United States with the release of his debut album ''Johnnie Ray'' (1952), as well as with a 78 rpm single, both of whose sides reached the ''Billboard'' magazine's T ...
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Dallas, Oregon
Dallas is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,854 at the 2020 census. Dallas is along Rickreall Creek, about west of Salem, at an elevation of above sea level. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Pioneers in the 1840s started the settlement that became known as Dallas on the north side of Rickreall Creek. It was originally named "Cynthian" or "Cynthiana". A 1947 ''Itemizer-Observer'' article states: " e town was called Cynthiana after Cynthiana, Ky., so named by Mrs. Thos. Lovelady." According to the county historical society in 1987, Mrs. Thomas J. Lovelady named the new settlement after her home town of Cynthiana, Kentucky. Another source claims that Cynthia Ann, wife of early pioneer Jesse Applegate, named the settlement. But they lived in the Salt Creek area of northern Polk County and, according to the 1850 Federal Census, she was not living in Polk County then. Dallas post office was estab ...
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