Ral Donner

Chicago-born Ralph Stuart Emanuel Donner got his musical start as a child, singing in church. He later competed in Chicago-area talent shows and formed several bands in high school, one of which--The Rockin' Five--backed Sammy Davis Jr. on a Chicago television show in the late 1950s. In 1959 Donner appeared on "Big Beat", a teen dance show hosted by legendary DJ Alan Freed, and soon afterward released a single with another of his bands, The Gents, and he and the band toured with the better-known group The Sparkletones. Donner took advantage of the fact that his voice sounded very much like that of rock legend Elvis Presley to record a version of Presley's "The Girl of My Best Friend". Executives at Gone Records heard it and had Donner re-record it for their label, and it became a national hit. His next single, however, is the one he is best known for--"You Don't Know What You've Got (Until You Lose It)", which hit #4 on the US Billboard charts. He recorded a few more songs after that, although none was as big a hit. He left Gone Records in 1963 for Reprise Records, the label owned by Frank Sinatra. Not much came of them, and he soon left the label, recording for, among others, Red Bird Records, but he was unable to revive his career. In 1981 he was hired to be the voice-over narrator, as Presley, in the documentary This Is Elvis (1981). Ral Donner died of lung cancer on April 6, 1984, in Chicago.