Ray Griff (September 2004)

'Gene Watson is probably the last of the truly great traditional country music singers around today.

I've been a Gene Watson fan since he recorded my song 'Where love begins', and each & every time he has recorded one of my songs has been a natural high for me.

Gene is one of the few artists who sings a song the way the writer hears it in his head'.

Thank you, Ray Griff, for your support of Gene Watson.
 

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About Ray Griff...

Ray Griff was born on April 22 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the younger of two sons by Katherine and George Griff.  Due to a breakup of the marriage & financial hard ships, Katherine left with her two sons & moved to Winfield, Alberta where she found employment as a bookkeeper.
Her sheer determination and years of sacrificing is what molded Ray!

Having a great love for music, at the age of eight, Ray along with his brother Ken & three other local kids, formed a band calling themselves 'The Winfield Amateurs', a title that later became one of Ray's most popular songs.  Ray sang & played drums in the band.

Saving his pennies, Ray purchased a Palm Beach guitar that he taught himself to play.  It was about this time that Ray started writing songs.  His mum Katherine scraped together enough funds to buy an old upright piano; Ray taught himself to play the piano as well.

When Ray turned twelve, the family decided to move to Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Coming into adulthood, Ray worked at a grocery store after school & on weekends to help with the family bills.

Ray fronted his own group in the late 1950s called 'The Blue Echo's' & began to earn a name for himself in & around Calgary, performing at high school hops & at local community affairs.  It was during one of these performances that he attracted the attention of local radio personality & promoter D'Arcy Scott, who asked Ray to be the opening act for Johnny Horton on a tour of Western Canada.

During the tour Ray played a song he had written for Johnny called 'Mister Moonlight', which Johnny included on his classic album 'The Battle of New Orleans'.  Ray decided to quit school & took a day job to make enough money to get to Nashville to pitch his songs.  He also entertained at a local nightclub, being the first live entertainment to perform in Calgary when
the Liquor Bill was passed.

Ray made his first trip to Nashville in 1961 leaving countless tapes of his songs with music publishers and record labels.  For the next two years, Ray fine-tuned his talents as a songwriter & performer.  It was after a Jim Reeves concert in Calgary that Ray presented Jim with his song 'Where Do I go from here'.  Jim not only recorded the song on his next album, he also invited Ray to move to Nashville.  After completing a Canadian nightclub tour, Ray made the long anticipated move to Music City in 1964.  Sadly, Jim Reeves, Ray's friend & mentor, perished in a plane crash on 31 July 1964.

Though devastated & alone, Ray was determined to make it in the world of country music.  He got a job repairing pianos from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon, when he would pitch his songs to record labels until closing time.  He would then work from six until midnight at a record pressing plant to help make ends meet.  Ray also managed to write songs as well as getting his high school diploma through a correspondence course.

Bob Ferguson, a record producer in Nashville was so impressed with Ray that he hired him to pitch songs for his publishing company.  Ray then recorded 'Don't Lead Me On' & 'That Weepin' Willow Tree'.  The session was presented to Chet Atkins at RCA Records & Ray was signed to its subsidiary label, Groove Records.  Ray remained with the label until artistic differences led him to be let out of his contract.

Shortly after, Ray played a song for renowned producer Owen Bradley.  The song was 'Baby', which Owen recorded with Wilma Burgess, a new artist on Decca - Ray's career as a songwriter & music publisher was under way.

For the next twenty plus years, Ray Griff would remain one of the hottest songwriters & music publishers in country music.  He enjoyed forty eight singles in the Top 100, as well as being the recipient of eighty seven ASCAP & BMI citations as a songwriter, artist, producer & publisher, taking home an unprecedented sixteen ASCAP awards two years running
in 1975 & 1976.

Ray Griff has written over two thousand songs with more than seven
hundred of his songs recorded by such renowned artists as Eddy Arnold, Johnny Duncan, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Crystal Gayle, George Hamilton IV, Johnny Horton, Ferlin Husky, Stonewall Jackson, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Locklin, Bob Luman, Loretta Lynn, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charlie Pride, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Mel Tillis, Conway Twitty, Porter Wagoner, Gene Watson, Roger Whittaker, Slim Whitman & Faron Young.

In 1989 Ray was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of
Fame and in 1998 was inducted into the Canadian Country Music
Hall Of Honor.

Visit Ray Griff's Official Website

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