By KiMi Robinson, USA Today | Lou Christie, who topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 with “Lightnin’ Strikes,” has died. He was 82. A representative, Mary Fox, confirmed to USA TODAY on June 18 that the Pittsburgh-born singer had died June 17. A cause of death was not given.
The falsetto-wielding Christie started his ascent from Glenwillard, Pennsylvania, choirboy to a teen idol when “The Gypsy Cried” started rising up the charts in 1963, followed by “Two Faces Have I.” With the hit song, cowritten by Twyla Herbert, he went from Lugee Alfredo Giovanni Sacco to Lou Christie.
A few years later, he made a name for himself when “Rhapsody in the Rain” was banned by radio stations for what was deemed suggestive lyrics. Then in 1988, more than a decade after Christie released his rendition of “Beyond the Blue Horizon,” the song made an appearance in the Oscar-winning film “Rain Man.” It was also included in the soundtrack of 1993’s “A Home of Our Own.”
Christie, according to his website, started his career in a two-track studio in Glenwillard with no musical training. He told the Beaver County Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2016, that his first public performance was a first-grade Christmas pageant, in which he sang “Away in a Manger.”
“I thought everyone could sing,” Christie said. “When I finished, I heard all this applause, and I was like, ‘Oh, what is this? This is kind of cool.'”
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Go here to read more about Mr. Christie:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/lou-christie-lightnin-strikes-singer-and-teen-idol-dies-at-82/
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lou Christie, ‘Lightnin’ Strikes’ singer and teen idol, dies at 82
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/lou-christie-dead-at-82-lightnin-strikes/84268989007/
Contributing: Scott Tady, The Beaver County Times