Elvis Presley got a Top 10 hit with the same song six years later. "He asked me if I would mind if he recorded 'The Wonder of You.' I said, 'You don't have to ask permission; you're Elvis Presley.' He said, 'Yes, I do. You're Ray Peterson.' "
Peterson was born in Denton, Texas, and grew up in San Antonio, where he was on his way to becoming an athlete -- he was especially fond of football and track -- when a wave of polio swept through the area.
"Six of us got polio in October of that year," he said in 2000. "I watched some of my friends die from it."
He was hospitalized for a long period, during which he got a taste for performing while singing for other patients. He moved from Texas to Los Angeles in 1956 and began playing clubs, landing a record contract in 1958 with RCA. With the money he earned from the success of "Tell Laura," he started his own label, Dunes, on which he released "Corrina, Corrina," one of several tracks he made with "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector.
Like so many American rockers whose careers nosedived with the 1964 arrival of the Beatles and the British Invasion, Peterson tried his hand at country music, but without commercial success.
He continued touring, often with Roy Orbison. He opened for the Beach Boys on their 1964 "Summer Safari" tour and played shows in Las Vegas. He later became an ordained minister but still made about 20 concert appearances a year, usually on oldies bills.
Peterson is survived by his wife, Claudia; seven children: Sara Sorrell, Adam Peterson, Timothy Lee Peterson, Leah Peterson, Melodia Peterson, Shawn Ordonez and Timothy Ray Ordonez; a brother, David Peterson; a sister, Mari Jane Beyer; and nine grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held today in Smyrna.
