Lou Ragland of World Famous Ink Spots dies in North Las Vegas

Lou Ragland kept The World Famous Ink Spots’ music alive in Las Vegas, heading up the latest version of the band four nights a week at Alexis Park. Only the coronavirus shutdown in March silenced the act.

Ragland, a member of the act since 1978 and its front man since 1993, died of cancer Wednesday at his home in North Las Vegas. He was 78. Ragland is survived by Stella Ragland, his wife of 27 years, eight children and many grandchildren. Plans for a memorial service are pending.

”Since there’s been a way to record or broadcast music The Ink Spots have been there,” said Admit VIP founder Pete Housley, who operated the Alexis Park Pegasus Showroom and booked the act. “It was a highlight of my career to work with an entertainment legend and to produce, unbeknownst to any of us, his last on stage performance.”

Ragland’s final performance was March 8.

Formed in 1934 as a jazz group, the original Ink Spots recorded several top-five singles in the U.S. pop charts in the 1940s, among them “I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire,” “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall,” “The Gypsy” and “To Each His Own.”

Ragland joined The George Holmes Ink Spots in 1978. The band was founded by Holmes’ bassist of founding member Ivory “Deek” Watson, who, upon his death in 1969, had entrusted Holmes to carry out the act’s tradition. Just before Holmes himself passed in 1993, he passed that responsibility on to Ragland.

Ragland was a multi-instrumentalist who primarily played guitar, but as a kid learned alto sax and tuba. He hailed from Cleveland. In the late-1960s through the mid-1970s, he produced some of the city’s top soul bands, including Hot Chocolate, Volcanic Eruption and Seven Miles High.

Ragland’s solo single, “I Travel Alone,” was popular among R&B fans in the U.K. The record was made possible by fellow Cleveland artist and friend Edwin Starr, who connected Ragland to Bell Records.

In February 2013, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame livestreamed “An Evening with Lou Ragland” hosted by Carlo Wolff, author of Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories.

Housley said because of Ragland’s dedication to the act, The World Famous Ink Spots will continue to perform when entertainment reopens in Las Vegas. “It may not have been his intention,” Housley said, then invoking one of the band’s greatest hits, “But he certainly set the world on fire.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.