J. Frank Wilson

John Frank Wilson (December 11, 1941 – October 4, 1991) was an American singer, the lead vocalist of J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. He was inducted into the West Texas Music Hall Of Fame.

Born in Lufkin, Texas, the son of a railroad engineer. He graduated from the local highschool in 1960 and joined the airforce.

Wilson joined the Cavaliers after his discharge from Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, in 1962. The band has formed in 1955 and with Wilson they moved to Memphis for two years before returning to Texas.

The Cavaliers' first chart hit was "Last Kiss", a song written by Wayne Cochran, who had based the song on a car accident in Barnesville, Georgia, near where he lived. The song, while only garnering minor success for Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders, found major success for the Cavaliers. "Last Kiss" became a hit in June 1964, it reached the top 10 in October of that year, eventually reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In Canada it also reached number two.

In October 1964, the British music magazine NME reported that Wilson had himself been involved in an auto accident near Lima, Ohio, in which his 27-year-old record producer, Sonley Roush, was killed, and Wilson was seriously injured.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia.