RALPH YOUNG DEAD AT 90

RALPH YOUNG DEAD AT 90

SANDLER + YOUNG star RALPH YOUNG has died at his Palm Springs, California home. He was 90.
A former big-band singer with Les Brown's Band of Renown, Young teamed up with Tony Sandler in the mid-1960s and the duo went on to record more than 20 albums, becoming U.S. TV variety show favourites.
The twosome also found success in Britain as the hosts of Kraft Music Hall Presents Sandler + Young from 1969.
Speaking prior to his former partner's funeral on Tuesday (26Aug08), Sandler told the Los Angeles Times newspaper, “They were extremely successful years. We did every possible TV show; we did it all. There were ups and downs like in everything, but Ralph was my friend and a great singer, and I have the greatest admiration for him.
“Ralph was very humorous; he was a very funny cat, actually... I mostly played the straight man, and he played... a bit of a buffoon type."
Although Young went into semi-retirement in 1983, at the age of 65, he continued to perform occasionally until the early 1990s.