R.I.P.: Jay Black, Lead Singer for The Americans

Jay Black

Jay Black, also known as “The Voice,” whose height of fame came in the 1960s when he was the lead singer of the band Jay and the Americans, has died. 

He was 82 years old.

The band had numerous hits including “Cara Mia”, “Come a Little Bit Closer”, “This Magic Moment”, and “Only in America.”

Jay Black was the second, and more widely known, Jay to lead the band Jay and the Americans, the first being Jay Traynor. He had previously come from the doo-wop group The Empires, where he had sung lead on their 1962 lone Epic Records single “Time and a Place” b/w “Punch Your Nose”. He had previously used David Black as his professional name, but changed his first name to suit the band’s existing name. He would later bill himself as “Jay Black and the Americans” after the original band had broken up.

Black was born David Blatt in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Borough Park. In his later career, he has become known for touring New York State and Florida, singing, mainly solo. Jay and his brother speak Yiddish fluently. In 1966, he recorded a Yiddish song “Where Is My Village” about the Holocaust.

Black had previously used David Black as his professional name, but changed his first name to suit the band's pre-existing name. He would later bill himself as "Jay Black and the Americans" after the original band had broken up.