His face was a mystery, but fans knew Alan Almond's voice anywhere

For decades, Alan Almond's smooth, vibrato voice was instantly recognizable on Detroit's airwaves.

But even after his death on Tuesday -- of an apparent heart attack at the age of 67 -- his face remains a mystery to his devoted fans.

Almond's career was anchored around "Pillowtalk," one of Detroit's most memorable shows on late-night radio, which aired from the 1970s to 1990s on 100.3 WNIC-FM. As host, Almond made a name for himself by mixing love songs with his own musings and feedback from his listeners.

But the show was also distinct for its frequent homages to candlelight with a wide array of sensual tunes.

In just one show in the early 1990s, he read a poem, counseled two teenagers, passed along "declarations of devotion" and announced a pregnancy to a dumbstruck father, according to a Free Press profile.

He was also known for writing love "snippets" with names like "candlelight," "Make a wish" and signing off nightly with, "Sweet Dreams Angel," according to WNIC.

As he told the Free Press in 2009: "'Pillowtalk' is a state of mind, a place to relax and feel cozy, safe and comfortable. I had a very personal connection with our audience."

"Pillowtalk" became one of the top-rated programs in the Detroit market, and Almond was also at one point the highest-paid non-syndicated nighttime radio host in the country, his attorney has said.

A Facebook page called "Pillow Talk": Alan Almond on WNIC is dedicated to the show.

But Almond avoided the public eye, since he was very rarely photographed, if he was photographed at all. That concealment gave rise to various cases of mistaken identity. Almond told the Free Press he overheard a woman in a Pizza Hut describing to her friends a weekend she'd had with "Alan Almond" -- even though the real Almond was sure he'd never met her.

As for what he actually looked like, a Free Press reporter in 1985 described him, then 38 years old, as "a six-footer with sandy blond hair and a trim mustache" and said that he looked like "a huskier Errol Flynn."

The reporter added, "He has the sensitive and searching greenish, brown eyes and wind-burnt, healthy complexion you'd expect of a man who, for almost a decade, billed himself as a pillow talker."

Alan Almond -- his real name -- was born in Detroit and graduated from Birmingham Groves High and Michigan State University, where he majored in literature. His father was an engineer and his mother worked for a florist.

He started knocking on radio station doors when he was 16, but nobody hired him until he was months out of college and working as a security guard in Macomb County. He was hired as a producer at a now defunct-radio station, WDRQ-FM, and got his first taste of airtime when the overnight host didn't show up.

On Tuesday, a family member discovered Almond's body inside his Beverly Hills home on Birwood Street, police said. Funeral arrangements will be private at the request of the family, said an associate with the A.J. Desmond & Sons Funeral Home in Troy.

Officials at 100.3 WNIC said that they will hold a special 2-hour tribute to Almond on Friday night from 7-9 p.m. The show will feature highlight clips from Almond's career, memories shared by his friends and co-workers, and the classic smooth tracks that he usually played.

Jay Grossman of Hometown Life contributed.

Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com or 313-223-4531. Follow on Twitter at @_dbethencourt.