| Reuben Klot | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Date: | 1 April 1923 |
| Birth Place: | London |
| Death Date: | 9 December 2000 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Occupation: | Singer |
| Years Active: | 1940s-50s |
| Label: | Columbia Records |
Ray Burns was a British singer, active in the 1950s, who had a top five hit single in 1955.
Burns was born of Russian ancestry as Reuben Klot in the east end of London in 1923.[1] During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force.
Burns entered showbusiness when a friend of the comedian Issy Bonn heard him singing in a barber shop;[2] Bonn took Burns on as a dresser, taught him singing techniques, and had him perform a song during his stage shows.[3] Burns' career took a step forward in 1949, when the orchestra leader Ambrose heard him sing at a London club and offered him a job.[4]
Burns was a regular singer with the BBC Show Band, under the leadership of Cyril Stapleton, in the 1950s,[5] and recorded a number of singles for Columbia Records between 1953 and 1958, two of which made any of the UK singles charts. The bigger hit, a cover of the Bob Holt/David Wells song "Mobile" (with the Eric Jupp Orchestra), which had been a hit in the United States for Julius La Rosa, reached number 4 in both the New Musical Express and Record Mirror[6] charts in March 1955. The second, "That's How A Love Song Was Born" (with The Coronets), reached number 14 of the NME charts later in the year; at the time Record Mirror only had a top 10 chart, expanding to a top 20 in October 1955, just as the single dropped out of the NME top 20.[7]
Burns' career turned to cabaret and smaller scale performances as the musical scene changed, but he made one final television appearance on Barrymore in the 1990s.[8]
Burns and his wife Tilly had two children, Larry and Gillian. Gillian performed with her father in a double act in the 1970s, and won an episode of New Faces in 1977.[9]