Scott died of Congestive Heart Failure in a hospital in Warren, Michigan, earlier this week. His death was confirmed by his daughter Jackie Matthews in a Facebook post Thursday (Dec. 12).
Scott, who was born Giovanni Scafone Junior in Windsor, Ontario, on January 24, 1936, had a major impact on the spread of rock and roll music across his native Canada. A master of moving seamlessly between rock, pop, doo-wop, rockabilly, gospel, and country, among other genres, Scott secured 19 records on The Billboard Charts between 1958 and 1961, according to FYI Music News.
His double-sided national hit “Leroy” (#11) / “My True Love” (#3), which was released on the Carlton record label in 1958, jump-started his career selling over one million copies.
In 2007, Scott was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame, and in 2011, he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
