R&B singer of the 1950s and early 1960s whose song "Raindrops" was #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Beginning his recording career in 1952 with the Hambone Kids, he won a talent contest as part of the group and was signed to Vee-Jay's label.
Despite his chart-topping success, he found himself at the end of his career destitute and living out of a welfare hotel in Georgia.
He was born Delectus Clark in Blytheville, Arkansas, inheriting his love of singing from his gospel singer mother.
He was recording on the Vee-Jay label around the same time as The Beatles, and he used to joke that he was warming up the microphone for John Lennon.
