Friday, July 2, 1999 | 12:01 p.m.
Guy Mitchell, a country-pop artist from the 1950s whose recordings of "Singing the Blues" and "Heartaches by the Number" skyrocketed to the top of the charts and became standards of the era, has died in Las Vegas. He was 72.
Mitchell died Thursday night of complications following surgery at Desert Springs Hospital, his wife, Betty Mitchell, said today.
Guy Mitchell, who also appeared in movies, on Las Vegas stages and had his own television show in the late 1950s, has been a Las Vegas resident since 1981. Services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at Prince of Peace Church on East Charleston Boulevard.
"The Metropolitan Opera wanted Guy early in his career, but he loved pop and country music," Betty Mitchell said today. "He was one of the first to combine both forms of music and that made him real popular even during the rock 'n' roll era."
Born Albert Cernick in Detroit, Mich., on Feb. 22, 1927, he was raised in San Francisco and served in the Navy during World War II.
Long nicknamed "Guy," he took the last name Mitchell as a stage name to honor famed band leader Mitch Miller, who discovered him.
In 1950, after Frank Sinatra declined to record "My Heart Cries For You," Miller offered it to Mitchell and he not only had a million-seller with that Columbia Records recording, but another million-seller with the B-side of that record, "The Roving Kind."
It launched a career that made Mitchell a household name in the '50s. He followed it up with "My Truly Truly Fair," in 1952. He would go on to have 16 million-selling recordings.
In 1953, Mitchell starred with Rhonda Fleming in the movie "Those Redheads From Seattle," and a year later starred with Rosemary Clooney in "Red Garters." From 1957-58 Mitchell starred on television in "The Guy Mitchell Show" and appeared on all of the major TV shows of that era.
In 1957, he released the No. 1 recording of "Singing the Blues," and a year later topped the charts again with "Heartaches by the Number."
Mitchell headlined at the Flamingo Hotel in 1957 and appeared at numerous local resorts, including the old Hacienda, five years ago. In his spare time, Mitchell made saddles and rode horses. In addition to his wife, Mitchell is survived by two stepsons, David Stranzak of Spokane, Wash., and Joseph Stanzak of Twin Falls, Idaho; and five grandchildren.
Betty Mitchell said donations in her husband's name can be made to the nonprofit children's assistance program he founded, the Buffalo Ranch, Box 42536, Las Vegas, NV 89116.
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