Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to Feature Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens has a long list of talents, singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, multi-instrumentalist, TV star and entertainer.

He was born Harold Ray Ragsdale.  Stevens grew up listening to country music on local radio. His musical talents began to blossom at age six when he took piano lessons. The Ragsdale family moved to Atlanta, Georgia from Clarksdale, Georgia where he was born January 24th, 1939.

Stevens was sixteen when he began working as a DJ and performing in small clubs.  In Atlanta, he met publishing giant Bill Lowery. Lowery introduced him to the music business and got him signed to a small record label and made him change his name to Ray Stevens.

While studying music at Georgia State University, Stevens began recording for Mercury Records. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962. He didn't appear on the country charts until 1969.  In 1970 Stevens had the million selling and Grammy winning "Everything is Beautiful" number 39 on the country charts and number one on the pop charts. Stevens string of novelty tunes continued with "The Streak" hitting number three on the country charts in 1974. His biggest country hit was "Misty" topped out at number three on the country charts in 1975. In April 1999 Stevens was diagnosed with early stage of prostate cancer. Stevens received a clean bill of health upon successful surgery.

Join me at 11 a.m. Sunday January 27th on the Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight.  We get started at 9 a.m. with the Country Classic show on 98.1 FM 98 Country.