Ray Peterson was born in Denton, Texas on April 23, some
sources list the year as 1939, others as 1935. As a boy he had to
overcome polio. Blessed with a 4-octave singing voice, he idolized the
vocal sounds of fellow Texan, Roy Orbison. Peterson moved to Los
Angeles, California where he was signed by RCA Victor Records in 1957.
He recorded several songs that were minor hits until "The Wonder of
You" made it into the Billboard Top Thirty list. The song would
later be recorded by Elvis Presley with whom he became close friends. In
1960 Ray Peterson scored a Top 10 hit with "Tell Laura I Love Her,"
and followed that success with "Corrina, Corrina. Ray Peterson died
January 25, 2005, of cancer in Smyrna, Tennessee and was interred in the
Roselawn Memorial Gardens cemetery in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
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