Ray Price

Ray Price (1926- )

Ray Noble Price was born on Jan. 12, 1926, near Perryville, Texas. He split his time between his father's farm and his mother's house in Dallas, where she moved after she and his father divorced. Ray served in the Marines during World War II, and had planned to become a veterinarian, attending North Texas Agricultural College.

A job singing at Roy's House Cafe led Ray down a different path, and with the help of Dallas record entrepreneur Jim Beck, made his first record in 1949. Soon he began singing on Dallas radio programs, including the popular KRLD Big D Jamboree. Ray's work impressed Troy Martin, a Peer-Southern publishing executive, who helped him land a contract with Columbia Records in 1951.

Hank Williams featured Ray on road shows and wrote the song "Weary Blues (From Waitin')" for him. Ray's recording of the song was successful enough for Grand Old Opry membership, and he joined in 1952. He roomed with Hank for a while, and shared Hank's Drifting Cowboys as his band.

Although his early recordings were greatly influenced by Hank, Ray put his own stamp on country's honky-tonk sound with "Crazy Arms," a 1956 #1 hit, played and sung to a 4/4 shuffle beat that is now an integral part of country music. And the hits kept coming with such songs as "I've Got a New Heartache," "My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You", "Heartaches By The Number" and "City Lights".

However, by the mid-1960s, Ray began mixing his usual honky tonk with pop-flavored ballads such as "Make the World Go Away" and a jazzed up version of Willie Nelson's "Night Life." In 1967 he recorded "Danny Boy," with a full orchestra, which alienated some of his hard-core fans. But Ray was winning over a new audience, and his country-pop success continued into the early 1970s with "For the Good Times", a huge crossover hit, and "I Won't Mention It Again."

Ray split with Columbia Records in 1974, and while he's recorded with various other labels since, his singles seldom reached the Top 10. Still, he has continued to record and tours whenever he likes.

Ray Price was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.