Pat Boone

Pat Boone was one of the most successful pop music performers of the 20th century, with over 30 Top 40 hits to his name, as well as an actor, television host, philanthropist and businessman. The key to Boone's appeal in the 1950s and early 1960s was his ability to translate R&B and rock songs by black artists into smooth, palatable pop for white audiences, including gently boppy takes on "Tutti Fruitti," "I Almost Lost My Mind" and "Long Tall Sally." Boone's time in the pop spotlight faded with the arrival of The Beatles, but he remained a fixture of Christian music and secular television for the next four decades. No matter what one thought of Boone, his music or his image, the sheer scope of his work as a singer and entertainer was impossible to deny.