was a unique talent, with a voice that conveyed pain and hurt at an emotional pitch seldom encountered in pop music in the 1950s, or since. 's impassioned, -tinged vocals influenced singers as diverse as and and paved the way for the concept of . This guy knew how to put himself over (he sang with both 's bands, remember), and his work for 's from 1953 to 1962 is indispensable. This collection features his biggest hits for the label, including his best-known track, which he co-wrote, and his first and last hits, and the incredible, burn-the-night-down vocals of A diminutive man with a volatile temper and a drinking problem, stabbed a man and was sent to prison for manslaughter in 1966, where he died two years later at the age of 31, robbing the world of its first true singer, and his story is one of the most tragic in all of pop. The release has the same running order as 's 1996 issue under the same title, but sports different artwork. ~ Steve Leggett