A trailblazer in Contemporary Christian Music has passed away.

Ray Hildebrand died peacefully, according to his publicist, last Friday at the age of 82  in Kansas City.

Hildebrand began his career as a pop-star – scoring a number-one hit with “Hey Paula” in 1963 as part of the Duo “Paul and Paula.”

Hildebrand left pop music in 1967 and became one of the early hitmakers in contemporary Christian music, releasing the album “He’s Everything to Me,” led by the popular song “Say I do.”

He later teamed with Paul Land, performing Christian music under the name of Land & Hildebrand, for decades.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Land wrote: ”My friend for over 50 years & my musical partner for forty, Ray Hildebrand ran into the arms of Jesus this evening!”