Robert John Dies: ‘Sad Eyes’ Singer Was 79​on February 26, 2025 at 2:23 am

Robert John, whose “Sad Eyes” hit No. 1 in the U.S. and had a Top 5 hit with a cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” died Monday. He was 79. His son Michael Patrick told our sister site Rolling Stone that his father had been recovering a stroke years ago.

Written by John and sung in his signature high-register voice, “Sad Eyes” was a first-person tale of a man who had to break up with a temporary girlfriend because his unspecified partner was returning. The EMI America single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1979, more than 20 years after he first hit the pop chart. It ended the six-week reign of The Knack’s “My Sharona ” and went Top 10 in Canada and Australia, just missing the Top 30 in the UK. Listen to it below.

Culled from his eponymous Top 70 album, “Sad Eyes” would be his last big hit, but it wasn’t his first. John’s cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” spent three weeks at No. 3 in 1972. He also made the Hot 100 eight other times spanning 25 years.

Born Robert John Pedrick on January 3, 1946, in Brooklyn, John first recorded as Bobby Pedrick Jr. at age 12 for Big Top Records, charting at No. 74 with “White Bucks and Saddle Shoes.” He cut a couple more singles during the 1950s before being dropped by the label.

It would be a decade before he would hit the chart again. “If You Don’t Want My Love” made the Top 50 in the U.S. and UK for Columbia Records. After a brief stint at A&M, he moved to Atlantic Records and had the big hit with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” featuring that high voice.

After the huge success of “Sad Eyes” seven years later, John had two more minor hits with “Lonely Eyes” and “Hey There Lonely Girl” in 1980.