Stafford was born in Hollis, OK, on November 22, 1941, and grew up in Amarillo, TX. He moved to Los Angeles after high school to pursue a singing career and performed at various local dances and social events. He got the chance to record a demo and chose "Suspicion," an album track from Elvis Presley's Pot Luck LP (1962). A local DJ took the song to Crusader Records, which remastered it and released it nationally in 1964. It went all the way to number three on the pop charts and did so during a week when the Beatles held every other spot in the Top Five. Stafford was never able to duplicate its success, though he did reach the Top 30 with his follow-up single, "I'll Touch a Star." He continued to perform and also branched out into acting (the film Wild Wheels) and songwriting, penning Buck Owens' hit "Big in Vegas." In 1973, Stafford signed with Atlantic's newly formed country division and recorded a full-fledged country album, Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose. The title track edged into the country Top 40, and its flip side, the Stafford co-write "Amarillo by Morning," also enjoyed some regional popularity. It was later covered by George Strait for a major hit. Stafford recorded for Atlantic through 1974 then disappeared from the music scene. He died of liver problems in Amarillo on March 17, 1996. ~ Steve Huey