The song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” topped the Billboard pop
chart on December 18, 1961, was an instant classic that went
on to become one of the most successful pop songs of all time,
yet its true originator saw only a tiny fraction of the song’s
enormous profits.

The 1960s pop duo Paul & Paula, who had a hit
with “Hey Paula.” 

Ray Hildebrand was an American singer that performed
in the 60’s group ‘Paul and Paula’. It has been reported
that Hildebrand passed away at his home in Kansas City,
Missouri last Friday. No cause of death was revealed.

MIKE GRACIA

Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002)

Jennings was a country music singer, songwriter, and musician.
best known as one of the founding pioneers of the Outlaw
Movement in country music.

Jennings started to play guitar at age of eight and first performed
at age 12 on KVOW radio, after which he formed his first band, The
Texas Longhorns. Jennings left high school at age 16, determined
to become a musician and worked as a performer and DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, KLLL, in Coolidge, Arizona, and Phoenix.

In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings’s first recording session,
and hired him to play bass. Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-
fated flight in 1959 that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. “The Big
Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens. Jennings died in his sleep
from complications of diabetes at the age of 64, at his home in Chandler,
 Arizona.

Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly, taken in a Photo Booth
(1959).

Waylon  Jennings and Buddy Holly during the Winter Dance
Party Tour in 1959.

James (Jimmie) Frederick Rodgers
(September 18, 1933 – January 18, 2021)

LM DESERT, Calif. (AP) — Jimmie Rodgers, singer of the 1957
hits “Honeycomb” and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” whose
career in music and movies was disrupted by a severe head
injury a decade later, has died. His publicist Alan Eichler said
Rogers, who was born in Camas, Washington, died from kidney
disease on January 18 in Palm Desert, California. He had also
tested positive for COVID-19.