Ray Young (3)

1927 - 2019 Vocalist Ray Young was best known for his recording of “Erica” with the Hank Haller Orchestra. Ray sang and recorded with some of the Cleveland Style's most popular polka bands since the 1940s. Raymond Guttmann was raised in the Cleveland area and began singing with local bands soon after returning from service in World War II. As Ray Young, the baritone first joined the Sokach-Habat Tunemixers as the band’s singer in 1949. He can be heard on the band’s versions of “The Blue Skirt Waltz” and “Red Lips and Red Wine.” He appeared on nine singles with Eddie Habat's orchestra on the Decca label. Over the years, Ray sang for legendary bandleaders, like Kenny Bass, Ernie Benedict and Frankie Zeitz, at the city’s premier polka spots, such Mae's Musical Lounge Bar, Frank Yankovic's Bar, the Golden Goose, Twilight Gardens, the Gay Cossack, and the old Hofbrau Haus, plus TV’s “Old Dutch Polka Revue” in the 1950s. Ray’s longest musical relationship was with the Hank Haller Orchestra, including nine albums. He wrote lyrics for several Haller numbers. His English translation of the classic German melody, “Erica Waltz,” made that tune of the Haller’s band top requests by dancers and fans. Hank and Ray were frequent performers on WEWS’s famous “Polka Varieties” music review which was syndicated to fifteen markets around the country. In recent years, Ray performed with Fred Ziwich and the International Sound Machine. In addition to polka combos, Ray was the long-time singer for the Harry Hershey Orchestra, known for the Big Band brunches in the old Hotel Statler. He also performed the National Anthem at Cleveland Stadium three times. He was known in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, for serving as councilman from 1970 to 2017.