Tell Laura I Love Her hitmaker
RICKYValance was the classic one-hit-wonder singer, with the tear jerker Tell Laura I Love Her in 1960, which sold seven million copies around the world.
With such heady success, he could and should have gone on to have a stellar career rivalling fellow Welshman Tom Jones, but he didn’t get the right breaks to make it into the big time.
The song told the tale of Laura’s boyfriend Tommy who entered a stock car race to get the money to buy her a ring but crashed, with his last words being the song title.
Former choirboy Ricky sang the song like a hymn, giving it a haunting, memorable quality which has stood the test of time.
Born David Spencer in Ynysddu, near Newport, one of seven, his mother Emily encouraged him to sing and he was a popular member of the choir at his local church.
He started work as a miner but pit work didn’t suit him so he joined the RAF as a leading aircraftsman. He was posted to Malta, where he met and married Evelyn. He later served in Libya during the Suez crisis.
But showbusiness beckoned and on leaving the RAF in 1957 he went on tour with bandleader Ted Heath among others.
Trying to propel his career, he changed his name toValance after the racehorse trainer Richard Valance – not, as many people thought, after Ritchie Valens, who had a massive hit with La Bamba.
An attempt to represent Britain in Eurovision in 1961 unexpectedly failed and his reputation suffered the following
year when he was fined £15 and bound over for a year on an assault charge following a fight.
After a spell living on the Costa Brava, he retired to Skegness in Lincolnshire where he later developed dementia.
He is survived by his wife, daughter Sian and son Clay.