Don Covay, R. I. P.

Don Covay: Don Covay, a singer and songwriter whose rhythm-and-blues compositions — among them “Pony Time,” “Chain of Fools” and “Mercy, Mercy” — became hits for a variety of performers and standards of rock ’n’ roll and soul music, died on Jan. 31 in a hospital in Valley Stream, N.Y., not far from his home in Queens. He was 78.  

Hat tip to Jeff Meyerson.