Roy Kral

The duo of Roy Kral and Jackie Cain (1928) were particularly popular in the '40s and '50s. They mixed vocalese, humor and show business patter, with Cain also being a good ballad and interpretative vocalist. Kral met Cain in Chicago while he was playing piano in a quartet. They worked with Charlie Ventura in the late '40s, with Kral doubling as Ventura's pianist, and also supplying some arrangements. The duo left Ventura, married in 1949 and began a sextet. They had their own television show temporarily in Chicago in the early '50s. They played with Ventura again briefly in the mid-'50s, then became a successful nightclub act in the late '50s and early '60s, playing in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. They moved to New York in 1963. Kral penned several commercials featuring the duo in the '60s, among them a famous Plymouth ad, and they've continued recording and performing into the '90s. They've recorded for Brunswick, Storyville, ABC-Paramount, Columbia, Audiophile, Discovery, Fantasy, Verve, CTI, and Concord. They have several dates available on CD. Kral died of congestive heart failure on August 6, 2002 at his home in Montclair, New Jersey.