RIP Jay Black
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(Of Jay and the Americans)
Jay Black, the lead vocalist for Jay and the Americans, the New York City-based musical group that earned success throughout the ’60s with such catchy hit singles as “This Magic Moment,” “Come a Little Bit Closer,” “Cara Mia” and “Some Enchanted Evening,” died today (October 23, 2021). Black, who was born David Blatt on Nov. 2, 1938, in Brooklyn, was 82. His death was announced by the singing group on their Facebook page. No cause of death was revealed, though he told a 2014 interview that he was “getting a lit bit of Alzheimer’s.”
In their announcement, the group wrote, “Today, we mourn the passing of David Blatt a/k/a Jay Black and we acknowledge the great successes we had with him both as a partner and as a lead singer. We shared both wonderful and very contentious times, and much like an ex-wife, we are so proud of the beautiful children we created. We’ll always remember The Voice.”
Blatt was actually the second “Jay” to front the group. They were formed in the late 1950s with Kenny Vance, Sandy Deane, and Howard Kane, and with Jay Traynor singing lead. In 1962, they scored a Top 5 single with “She Cried,” but when their follow-ups failed to succeed, Traynor left the group. He was replaced by Blatt and his commanding voice, and they soon recorded the Mann-Weil composition, “Only in America,” which peaked at #25.
The following year, they earned what would be their biggest hit with 1964’s “Come a Little Bit Closer” for United Artists Records, which reached #3.
They followed it up that same year with “Let’s Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key,” a bouncy number that went to #11.
They returned to the Top 10 in 1969 with the Doc Pomus – Mort Shuman song, “This Magic Moment.”
“The record company didn’t pay us a lot of money,” he told an interviewer in 2014. “The big thing is when you have a big hit you work a lot and you make a lot of money. But I was always a gambler and I pissed away everything. I never saved my money. I helped a lot of people. I helped my family, but I really screwed up my money.”
He never finished high school. “I went to three yeshivas,” he said, in that same interview. “They threw me out. Three yeshivas. I was a bad kid. I was a wise guy. When I graduated from eighth grade, I was the class comedian. I was always a trouble maker.”
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RIP Mr. Black
Link to video
