Ray Stevens
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| Ray Stevens | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harold Ray Ragsdale |
| Born | January 24, 1939 Clarkdale, Georgia, U.S. |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Country, Pop, Novelty |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, arranger, pianist |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 1958 – present |
| Label(s) | NRC, Mercury, Warner Bros., MCA, RCA, Curb Records |
| Website | RayStevens.com |
Ray Stevens (born Harold Ray Ragsdale, January 24, 1939, in Clarkdale, Georgia, a small town west of Atlanta) is an American country music and pop singer-songwriter known for his novelty songs and also for some more serious works.
Contents |
Career
Early career
Stevens' recording career began in the mid-1950s with two singles released on Prep Records. He then signed a contract with Capitol Records. Both recording contracts were made with the help of Atlanta, Georgia music maven, Bill Lowery. In 1958, Stevens joined Lowery's National Recording Corporation (NRC), playing numerous instruments, arranging music, and performing background vocals for its band. After NRC filed for bankruptcy, he signed with Mercury Records with whom Stevens recorded a series of hit records in the 1960s that included songs such as "Ahab the Arab", "Harry the Hairy Ape", "Funny Man", the original recording of "Santa Claus is Watching You" (a sequel, of sorts, to "Ahab the Arab"), and "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills".
Stevens often employed canned laugh tracks in his comedic novelty songs, such as "The Streak", "Harry the Hairy Ape", "It's Me Again, Margaret" and others, which no doubt contributed to his success in the 60s and 70s (during a time when canned laughter was widely used to "punch up" otherwise mediocre TV sitcoms). As laugh tracks fell out of favor in the late 70s and early 80s, Stevens' popularity waned significantly, although he has released novelty singles and albums to the present (2007). While Stevens steadfastly continues using canned laugh tracks in his more recent offerings, none of these works captured the public's imagination to the extent of his earliest works.
In 1968, Stevens signed with Monument Records and started to release serious material such as "Mr. Businessman" in 1968, a Top 30 pop hit, and "Have A Little Talk With Myself" and the original version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in 1969, which became Ray's first two singles to reach the country music charts; Johnny Cash's recording of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" was a monster hit in 1970. Stevens continued releasing novelty songs, and in 1969 he had a million-selling Top 10 pop hit with "Gitarzan". Stevens also became a regular on The Andy Williams Show during the 1969-1970 season, and even hosted his own summer show in 1970.
1970s
Starting in the 1970s, Stevens became a producer and well-known studio musician on the Nashville scene. He recorded hits for Barnaby and Warner Brothers during 1970-1979. Stevens' biggest hit in the US was his gospel-inflected single "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970), a plea for love and tolerance during turbulent times in the US. The single won a Grammy, was the theme song for his summer 1970 TV show, and marked his first time in the Top 40 on the country charts, peaking at #39. His other 1970 singles were "America, Communicate With Me" and "Unwind", both minor pop successes. His novelty song "Bridget the Midget (The Queen of The Blues)" made #2 on the UK chart in 1971, but in the US it only reached #50. Ray had a gospel/country hit single in early 1972 with "Turn Your Radio On", reaching the country Top 20. Two more of Ray's songs in 1972 were also minor pop hits, "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials", but both crossed-over to the Top 40 Adult-Contemporary lists. In 1973, Stevens had a top 40 country hit with the title track of his album "Nashville". In 1974, Stevens recorded perhaps his most famous hit, "The Streak", which poked fun at the early-1970s fad of running nude in public, known as "streaking". It made No. 1 in both the UK and the USA and No. 3 on the country chart. Ray's tenure with Barnaby came to an end in early 1976, after he had racked up several more hit singles; "The Moonlight Special" is a spoof of the TV program "The Midnight Special". In 1975, he released the Grammy-winning "Misty", which became his biggest country hit (reaching #3 on the country charts and #14 on the pop charts); he also hit the country Top 40 with a doo-wop version of "Indian Love Call", "Everybody Needs a Rainbow", and a ballad version of "Young Love" in early 1976.
In the spring of 1976, Stevens joined Warner Brothers, where his debut was a strong showing with three hit singles in a row. The first was the up-tempo version of "You Are So Beautiful", which reached the country Top 20, then "Honky Tonk Waltz", which reached the Top 30. He then released a novelty single, billing himself as a choir of chickens: under the pseudonym "Henhouse Five Plus Too", Stevens recorded a version of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" in the style of a clucking chicken; it became a Top 40 hit in the US and UK in early 1977. Ray never made it to the Top 40 throughout the rest of 1977 on either the pop or country charts. In 1978 he had a hit with "Be Your Own Best Friend" on the country charts, and in 1979 he had his final hit, as of 2007, on the Hot 100 pop chart with the novelty "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow". He headed for RCA in late 1979 and new material showed up in 1980.
1980s and after
After joining RCA in 1980, Ray continued having hit singles but they weren't as consistently successful as they had been in the previous decade. He made a big entrance to RCA with his debut single, the Top 10 "Shriner's Convention" and then had another good sized hit with the Top 20 love ballad "Night Games" near the end of the year. In 1981, only one single made the charts, the Top 40 hit "One More Last Chance". In 1982 a few more singles hit, notably the Top 40 "Written Down in My Heart". He left RCA and made a return to Mercury Records, the label that made him a star in the early 1960s. This time around, the pairing resulted in only one album, the 1983 project "Me", and only one chart hit, "My Dad", in early 1984.
Ray then joined MCA in 1984 and this was the start of Ray's re-birth, you might say. He joined the label as a "country comedy" act and therefore released only novelty song albums. Since Ray's image and more successful songs were off-beat and comedic, this resulted in a resurgence. Ray's first two albums for MCA were both hugely successful, both hitting sales of over half a million. His next series of albums were high sellers as well, proving Ray's long-standing appeal would be his zany comedy songs. Another side-effect of Ray promoting himself as a comedy act was the recognition at the fan-voted Music City News awards, being named Comedian of the Year annually for 9 consecutive years, 1986-1994. Ray's singles were no longer making the Top 40 charts as they were comedy/novelty and country radio resisted playing songs that weren't serious. Even though it meant little airplay, the sales and overall popularity Ray was enjoying during the 1980s and into the 1990s because of the switch to "all-comedy" was a runaway success. His newer/younger fans he had gained bought many of the greatest hits albums MCA and other record labels had released during the 1980s.
A few of Ray's commercial singles charted on the Single Sales charts during this time, but only one single actually made it to the radio-dominated Top 40, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" reached the Top 20, making that Ray's final single to hit the Top-40 portion of the country chart. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" is the only single during his 1984–1989 stay on MCA that came close to reaching the Top 40, stalling at #41 in 1987. Second to that, the other single close to hitting the Top 40 on the country chart was the #45 hit "The Haircut Song"
Ray left MCA in 1989 for Curb/Capitol in 1990 and then the two labels split apart after a few years joined together and Ray was signed to Curb Records afterwards.
Ray's last chart record on the country charts came in 2002 with "Osama Yo' Mama" which made the Top 50 and became Ray's first gold record since "The Streak" in 1974.
Videos
His talents have been showcased in a successful series of videos. "Gitarzan" was featured on Disc 1 of the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection. Ray's video career is mostly documented on Television by way of the commercials that would run advertising his home videos/DVDs of music video's. Mail-order was the vehicle that drove Ray to the top of the charts once again in 1992 with the release of the famed "Comedy Video Classics" which contained 8 music videos. That video album won the Home Video of the Year in 1993 and it won Ray a lot of other plaques and awards due to its success. He followed that with two home videos filmed at his Branson, Missouri theatre "Ray Stevens Live!" and "More Ray Stevens Live!!" both released in 1993 although the second collection was only available to fan-club members at the time. In 1995 he released a movie, which contained 10 music videos inserted at appropriate times throughout the spoken dialogue, called "Get Serious!!". He slowed down the home video out-put by 1997 having released the retrospective collection "Latest and Greatest" in 1996 on video. However, he returned to that avenue in 2000 releasing "Funniest Video Characters" which included the much anticipated video to his 1985 hit "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone". It, too, like the previous telemarketed video albums, was a sales success. In 2004 "Greatest Video Characters" was released; a mammoth collection of music videos from Ray collected from throughout the 1990s including three newer ones, "Osama Yo' Mama", "Hello Mama", and "Thank You". Ray's video albums are released by mail order on his own label, Clyde Records. Curb Records usually distributes them to stores.
Awards
Stevens has won two Grammy Awards: one for "Everything Is Beautiful" and one for the arrangement of his country and western version of the jazz standard "Misty" (1975). Ray Stevens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.
Discography
Awards
- 1969: Gold Single — "Gitarzan" (over 1,000,000 copies sold)
- 1970: Gold Single — "Everything Is Beautiful" (nearly 3,000,000 copies sold)
- 1970: Grammy — "Everything Is Beautiful" (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance)
- 1974: Gold Single — "The Streak" (nearly 5,000,000 copies sold)
- 1975: Grammy — "Misty" (Best Arrangement of the Year)
- 1980: Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction
- 1984: Gold Album — "He Think He's Ray Stevens" (over 500,000 sold)
- 1985: Gold Album — "I Have Returned" (over 500,000 sold)
- 1986: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1986: #1 Country Album Plaque from Billboard — "I Have Returned" (week ending March 15, 1986)
- 1987: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1987: Platinum Album — "Greatest Hits" (MCA; over 1,000,000 copies sold)
- 1987: Gold Album — "Greatest Hits, Volume Two" (MCA; over 500,000 copies sold)
- 1988: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1989: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1990: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1990: Gold Album — "All-Time Greatest Comic Hits" (CURB; over 500,000 copies sold)
- 1991: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1992: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1992: #1 Home Video Plaque from Billboard — "Comedy Video Classics"
- 1992: Ten Times-Platinum Home Video — "Comedy Video Classics" (over 1,000,000 copies sold)
- 1993: Billboard Home Video of the Year
- 1993: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1993: Platinum Home Video — "Ray Stevens Live!" (over 100,000 copies sold)
- 1994: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1995: Platinum Home Video — "Get Serious!" (over 100,000 copies sold)
- 1995: Country Weekly Golden Pick Award "Best Comedian"
- 1996: Georgia Music Hall of Fame Induction
- 2002: Gold Single — "Osama Yo' Mama" (over 500,000 copies sold)
References
- Roy, Don (1998). "Ray Stevens". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music, Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 507.
