‘Sad Eyes’ Singer Robert John Dead at 79

Robert John, the singer who hit No. 1 in 1979 with “Sad Eyes,” has died. He was 79.

The news was confirmed to Rolling Stone by John’s son, Michael Pedrick, who said his dad died on Monday and was still recovering from a stroke he had several years ago.

While John is best known for “Sad Eyes,” which stopped the Knack‘s six-week rein at No. 1 with “My Sharona,” his career started in the late ’50s and then continued with Bobby & the Consoles, a doo-wop group he led in New York, in the early ’60s.

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John was born as Robert John Pedrick in Brooklyn on Jan. 3, 1946; he cut his first record in 1958 as Bobby Pedrick, Jr. John was only 12 when “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes,” written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, reached No. 74.

Bobby & the Consoles didn’t notch any chart hits, and by 1968 Pedrick was going professionally by the name Robert John and hit No. 49 with “If You Don’t Want My Love.”

What Songs Did Robert John Sing?

In 1972, John hit the Top 40 for the first time with a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” that stayed at No. 3 for three weeks. His falsetto on the song – an almost note-for-note copy of the Tokens’ 1961 No. 1 hit – was a testing ground for “Sad Eyes,” which debuted in the Hot 100 on May 19 and featured John’s sky-soaring voice.

On Oct. 6, 20 weeks later, “Sad Eyes” climbed to No. 1; at the time, the song tied a record set by Nick Gilder’s “Hot Child in the City” as the single that took the longest to reach the top spot. It stayed there for one week, earning John a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance.

You can hear Robert John’s “Sad Eyes” below.

The trivia surrounding the “Sad Eyes” chart stats – that long, steady climb plus breaking “My Sharona”‘s six-week run at the top – helped give John five more minor hits over the next few years.

The follow-up single “Only Time” stalled outside of the Top 100, but another “Eyes” song, “Lonely Eyes,” just missed the Top 40 later in 1979. John’s last three charting singles were all covers: “Hey There Lonely Girl,” his final Top 40, “Sherry” and “Bread and Butter,” a No. 68 song from 1983 released on Motown.

John had performed only sporadically over the past few decades and lived in Las Vegas with his family.

“I look at the charts and see my name, but I still have trouble believing it’s really me,” he told Rolling Stone during “Sad Eyes”‘ chart run. “I didn’t think the song would be the first single from the album. It’s a ballad, and I thought the company was crazy to release it.”