If Elvis Presley was the great pop messiah, Ray played John the Baptist

As a prototype for pop though, Johnnie Ray was much closer [than Sinatra], the Nabob of Sob, the Million Dollar Teardrop himself. If Elvis Presley was the great pop messiah, Ray played John the Baptist.

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Elvis is where pop begins and ends. Hes the great original and, even now, he's the image that makes others seem shoddy, the boss. For once the fan club spiel is justified: Elvis is King.

N. Cohn, Awopbopaloobop, Awopamboom (1969), 3 & 14