Collin Raye (September 2007)

Collin Raye is a native of DeQueen, Arkansas where he was born in August 1959 with the name Floyd Collin Wray.  Both of Collin's parents were musical & Collin's mother, Lois Wray, was a regionally popular performer in east Texas who opened shows for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins in the 1950s.

Collin grew up steeped in traditional country music & regularly heard the music of Johnny Horton, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Charley Pride, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens & Ray Price.

By the time he was 7 years old, Collin was onstage performing with his mother.  His family moved from Arkansas to Texas & by the time he was 13, he & his older brother Scott had formed The Wray Brothers & were performing in the roadhouses of the Lone Star State.  They soon progressed to a headline act in Portland, Oregon & in the casinos of Reno, Nevada.

Collin Raye first attracted the attention of Nashville as the lead vocalist on a string of independent singles in the 1980s; The Wrays released a couple of singles on Mercury Records in 1986-1987.  Scott became tired of the road & they broke up.

Epic Records signed Collin Raye as a solo artist in 1990 & released his acclaimed debut album 'All I Can Be' which, a year later in 1991, yielded the Billboard No.1 hit 'Love, me', along with the No.2 hit 'Every second'.

Collin enjoyed a successful ten year period with Epic Records where he achieved 21 Top 10 hits for the label.  He also saw the release of several acclaimed albums for the Epic Records label including 'In This Life' (1992), 'Extremes' (1994), 'I Think about You' (1995), 'The Walls Came Down' (1998), 'Counting Sheep' (1998) & 'Can't back Down' (2001).

Following his departure from Epic Records, Collin saw the release of several independent albums in 2005 including 'Twenty Years & Change' for Aspirion Records & 'Fearless' for Country Road Records.

The 'Twenty Years & Change' album includes Collin's tasteful interpretations of classic songs including The Bellamy Brothers' 'Let your love flow' & Conway Twitty's 'It's only make believe'.

Collin Raye has enjoyed an illustrious career within country music; he has proudly achieved 5 platinum albums, 25 Top Ten hits, 15 No.1 hits & 12 chart-topping videos.

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