Ray Hildebrand, the singer-songwriter whose duet “Hey Paula” with his friend Jill Jackson under the names Paul & Paula became a million-selling No. 1 hit in 1963, died August 18 of dementia complications at his home in Overland Park, Kansas. He was 82.

His death was announced to The New York Times by his son-in-law Larry Serling.

The song, a tender ballad in which two young lovers trade verses pledging their affections and desire to marry, was something of a 1950s-style teen pop doo-wop holdover that captured a radio-listening audience just before the Beatles-led British Invasion took over the airwaves. The song remains a staple of Golden Oldies fare, and has been used as an era-signifying backdrop in period movies from National Lampoon’s Animal House to modern-day TV series like Halt and Catch Fire. Watch a 1964 performance of the song below.

Written by Hildebrand when he was a college student and originally titled “Paul...