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www.SILLYSONGBOOK.com - The Musical Comedians Hall Of Fame |
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Sillysongbook.com - Ray Stevens
Ray Stevens was born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarksdale,
Georgia on January 23, 1939. He started taking piano lessons at the age of six. When he was ten, his family moved to the town
of Albany, Georgia where as a teenager, Stevens would work as a radio deejay on weekends and play in bands on the side. He
later studied music theory and composition at Georgis State University, eventually becoming a classical pianist and changing
his name to Ray Stevens. ~ Around the year
1957, Atlanta music publisher Bill Lowery sees Stevens playing in a local band ("The Barons") and doing comedy routines
between the band's sets. Lowery signs Stevens to his publishing company and helps him get a record deal with Capitol Records.
Steves released six singles for Capitol before being signed to NRC Records in 1959. His third single for NRC, "Sgt. Preston
Of The Yukon", gained airplay as a regional hit. Mercury Records signed him in 1961 and the company's label department
had to use a new, miniature typeface in order to fit the entire song title of his first single with Mercury onto the 45 RPM
label. The song title? "Jerimiah Peabody's Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green And
Purple Pills"!! The song became Stevens' first top 40 hit, reaching the chart position of #35 in September of 1961.
Stevens Moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962 and worked as a
session musician. Shortly after this move, he recorded the song that would make him a star, "Ahab The Arab", which
would climb the charts and peak at #5 in July of 1962. Stevens went on to record many other novelty hits during the 1970s
and 1980s such as "Harry The Hairy Ape", "Gitarzan", "Bridget The Midget", "Freddie Feelgood",
and "The Streak" to name but a few. Stevens also showed that he had a serious musical side as well with
such Top 40 hits as "Mr. Businessman", "Everything Is Beautiful" (a #1 hit), and "Misty".
His recording career continued through the 1980s and 1990s with more hits such as "Mississippi Squirrel Revival",
"Shriner's Convention", "Ballad Of The Blue Cyclone", "Santa Claus Is Watchin' You",
"Surfin' U.S.S.R.", and "I Saw Elvis In A UFO". He even made videos for some of his comedy songs
in 1992, packaged it for VHS video release as "Ray Stevens' Comedy Video Classics", and sold the tape in
enormous quantities with a TV ad campaign. In 2002, "Comedy Video Classics" was released for the first time
on DVD. ~ Ray Stevens now is in his 5th decade in the musical field, still performing live
and recording in the studio. His latest release in 2007, "New Orleans Moon", is a straight-forward collection
of cover tunes that amount to a emotional tribute to the city of New Orleans and Louisiana in general in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. He still records comedy novelty hits such as "Osama, Yo Mama" in 2002. His recordings
have stood the test of time, proving Ray Stevens to be one of the most successful musical comedians of recent decades.
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO CHECK OUT THESE RAY
STEVENS ITEMS:
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