Tony Butala, Last Surviving Original Lettermen Member, Dies

Tony Butala, co-founder of the vocal group The Lettermen and its last surviving original member, has died at 87. A representative for the group confirmed that Butala died Sunday, November 1. The band announced his death in a statement released Tuesday, November 3. No cause of death was provided. Butala founded The Lettermen in the late 1950s with Jim Pike and Bob Engemann. The trio became known for close harmonies and scored its first hit in 1961 with a version of The Way You Look Tonight. The song reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination. The group went on to place 20 songs on the Hot 100, including six that reached the top 40, according to Billboard chart data cited in reporting on Butala’s career. Among its best-known recordings were When I Fall in Love, Theme From A Summer Place and the medley Goin’ Out of My Head/Cannot Take My Eyes Off You. The latter reached No. 7. Hurt So Bad, which peaked at No. 12 in 1969, spent 21 weeks on the chart, the group’s longest chart run for a single. The Lettermen received four Grammy nominations over the course of their career, including a best new artist nomination in 1962. The group’s last hit was...