Jesse Lorenzo Belvin

 Jesse Lorenzo Belvin (December 15, 1932 – February 6, 1960)

Belvin co-wrote the 1954 Penguins' doo-wop classic "Earth Angel", which sold more than 10 million copies, while his top recording was the 1956 single "Goodnight My Love", a song that reached No. 7 on Billboard's R&B chart. Having been drafted into the army around 1953, Belvin continued to write songs. His composition "Earth Angel", eventually co-credited to Belvin and Hollywood Flames singers Curtis Williams and Gaynel Hodge after a legal dispute, was recorded by The Penguins, and became one of the first R&B singles to cross over onto the pop charts, selling 1 million copies in 1954/1955. In 1958, he recorded on Dot Records with a group, the Shields, who included lead singer Frankie Ervin and guitarist Johnny "Guitar" Watson. Their record "You Cheated" reached No. 15 on the U.S. pop chart and No. 11 on the R&B chart. In 1956, the single "The Girl in My Dreams" b/w "I Wanna Know Why", recorded with Eugene Church as The Cliques, peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Girl in My Dreams" was covered by the Four Lovers (two of whose members, including Frankie Valli, would later become The Four Seasons). Inspired by his wife and manager Jo Ann to develop his style, Belvin signed to RCA Records in 1959, and immediately had a top 40 hit with "Guess Who", written by his wife.

He also recorded the album Just Jesse Belvin, developing a mature and sophisticated sound on ballads. His style was influenced by Nat "King" Cole and Billy Eckstine, and became a model for Sam Cooke and others. Belvin recorded a further series of tracks later in the year, with arranger Marty Paich and an orchestra including saxophonist Art Pepper. The songs included soulful covers of standards such as "Blues in the Night", "In the Still of the Night", and "Makin' Whoopee", and were issued on the album Mr. Easy. However, Belvin's success was cut short by his death in a car crash at the age of 27. The accident, which also claimed the lives of his wife Jo Ann and their driver, occurred after a concert in Little Rock, Arkansas that had been disrupted at least twice by white supremacists. According to an Arkansas state trooper at the scene of the accident, the tires of Belvin's 1959 Cadillac had "obviously been tampered with". He was 27 and Jo Ann, 23. The Belvins are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.