Ray Hildebrand, part of 1960s duo that hit No. 1 with ‘Hey Paula,’ dead at 82

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ray Hildebrand, who scored a No. 1 pop hit in 1963 with Jill Jackson as the duo Paul and Paula, died Friday. He was 82.

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Hildebrand died in Kansas City, Missouri, Variety reported. No cause of death was given. His death was also announced on the singer’s Instagram page.

Hildebrand wrote the duo’s most famous song, “Hey Paula,” which spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts after debuting on Dec. 29, 1962, according to Billboard. It peaked at No. 1 on Feb. 2, 1963, and spent three weeks atop the Billboard charts and nine weeks in the Top 10.

The song also topped Billboard’s R&B singles chart, in February 1962, according to Variety.

Hildebrand was a student at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, when he wrote “Hey Paula,” according to Billboard. Although the song was a romance ballad, Hildebrand and Jackson were not romantically involved. Jackson was the niece of the owner of the boarding house where Hildebrand lived.

The duo had four songs hit the charts in 1963, with “Young Lovers,” the follow-up to “Hey Paula,” peaking at No. 6, according to Variety. The duo released three albums during an eight-month stretch in 1963, according to the entertainment news website.

The duo split professionally in 1965 but occasionally reunited at oldies shows, Variety reported. In 2012, they appeared and held hands to sing their hit at Howard Payne University.

Hildebrand turned to contemporary Christian music and released a 1967 album, “He’s Everything to Me,” according to the entertainment news website. The album included the songs “Say I Do” and “Anybody Here Wanna Live Forever?”

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