Jack Scott passed away yesterday in Michigan after suffering from congestive heart failure at the age of 84. His may not be a name that’s immediately familiar to you. Let’s fix that.

Scott was born Jack Scafone in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1936. His family relocated to the Detroit suburbs when he was ten years old, but Scott may be one of the earliest “big stars” to claim Canadian heritage. FYI Music News out of Canada wrote a nice piece about him; you can find it here.

You’re going to question me on the “big star” moniker, but let me answer that one. Between 1958 and 1960 Jack Scott hit the American Top 10 four times: with his debut “My True Love,” 1959’s “Goodbye Baby,” and 1960’s “What In the World’s Come Over You” and “Burning Bridges.” (Don’t confuse the last one with the Mike Curb Congregation record of the same name.) Add to that roster five other Top 40 singles and a few from the Country charts, and you have a decent resume.

Jack was still performing as recently as 2016, which isn’t bad for a guy approaching 80 at the time. We had him for one of the “gala of stars” type shows with WRLL in Chicago and he did a fantastic job keeping the crowd riveted. (Scott’s records fared well on the WJJD charts, and the listeners remembered him.)

We gave more than a little play to “Leroy” at WRLL. Larry Lujack, who was in his last gig at the time, was our morning co-host with Tommy Edwards and I recall him liking the record. It was a #11 hit and the flip side of “My True Love,” and it was the first song I thought of when I heard this news.

You can hear “Leroy” by clicking here.