Pollard, former pop singer, dies

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005 | 8:40 a.m.

Ray W. Pollard, lead singer of the The Wanderers rhythm and blues group during the 1950s and 1960s who had also performed on Broadway, died Wednesday of lung cancer at a Las Vegas convalescent home. He was 74.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of eight years will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Word of Life Christian Center. Visitation will be for one hour before the services. Interment will be 1:20 p.m. Wednesday in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

"They (The Wanderers) always thought they had what it took to make it very big but it just never happened for them," said Pollard's wife of more than 30 years, Carrie Pollard of Las Vegas, captain of the original chorus line at the Moulin Rouge, Las Vegas' first integrated hotel.

"My husband was a very distinguished, classy gentleman -- one of the best black tenors ever. He would want to be remembered as a great tenor and a good Christian man."

The Wanderers, also known as The Singing Wanderers, had just two singles that barely broke into the Top 100 on the U.S. pop charts -- "There is No Greater Love" and "For Your Love," both in the early 1960s.

Still, they regularly performed at the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem and opened for some of the biggest stars of the era, including Ella Fitzgerald and Ethel Merman.

The group also shared stages with comedians Pigmeat Markham and Redd Foxx and vocalists Big Joe Turner, The Five Satins, Eartha Kitt and Sam Cooke.

The Wanderers made seven appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show.

The group also performed in Las Vegas at the old Dunes, where the Bellagio now stands. They disbanded in 1964.

In the early 1970s Pollard performed in the Broadway play "Purlie" and during the 1980s was the lead singer of a later version of the Ink Spots.

As a solo artist, Pollard released "The Drifter" in 1965. In 2002 the single charted in Great Britain, where he went to perform that year.

Born Aug. 25, 1930, in New York City, Pollard served in the Army and lost his left hand during the Korean War.

He joined the Wanderers in 1953 and appeared on all of the group's recordings.

In 2000 The Wanderers were inducted into the United in Group Harmony Association Hall of Fame.

In October 2003 Pollard fell ill after performing at a fund-raiser for the Andre Agassi charter school. X-rays found three cancerous spots on his lungs.

In addition to his wife, Pollard is survived by a daughter, Angel Roberts of Pomona, Calif.; two sons, Ray Pollard Jr., or Hurley, N.Y., and Stanford Pollard of Denver, Colo.; a brother Mitchell Bowie of New York City; 15 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.