Ray Griff is where Nashville country music, Canadian country music, and rock'n'roll intersect. Ray has written and/or recorded more country hits than any other Canadian songwriter in history. One of the first country artists-if not the first country artist to produce his own hits, Ray is a one man country music juggernaut: singer, songwriter, musician, producer, publisher, promoter, and label owner. He has also hosted his own Network TV shows "Good Time Country" and "Up- Town Country" and the classic country music radio show "Raymond's Place." Born on April 22 in Vancouver, B. C. Ray was the younger of two sons by Katherine and George Griff. Due to a breakup of the marriage and financial hardship, Katherine left with her two sons and moved to Winfield Alberta where she found employment as a bookkeeper. Katherine was a beacon of light and a pillar of strength for her boys. Her sheer determination and years of sacrifice is what molded Ray. Katherine had an appreciation for music and recognized that her son Ray had a special gift when at the age of seven he wrote his first song "Blue Bells". With a great love for music, at the age of eight, Ray along with his brother Ken and three other local kids, formed a band calling themselves "The Winfield Amateurs", a title that later became one of Rays most popular songs. Ray sang and played drums in the band! Saving his pennies, Ray purchased through a mail order catalogue, a Palm Beach guitar. A milestone however was when his mother Katherine scrapped together enough funds to buy an old upright piano. Since there was no money for lessons, Ray taught himself how to play both instruments! With a stuttering problem, although it was very difficult for Ray, he was determined to do something special with his life. When Ray turned twelve the family moved to Calgary, Alberta. Coming into adulthood Ray worked at a grocery store after school and on weekends to help pay the family bills. Ray loved sports and although there was little time to participate, he received a special invitation from the Canadian Olympic Committee, after he set a record in the long jump at a city track meet. In his quest for a career in music Ray felt it best to decline! Ray fronted his own band The Blue Echos in the late 50's, and began to earn a name for himself in and around Calgary, performing at high school hops and at local community functions. Ray wrote his first commercial song when he was 14, and when he was 17 he was asked by local radio personality and concert promoter D'Arcy Scott to be the opening act for one of his heroes Johnny Horton on a tour of Western Canada. His dreams were beginning to come true! During the tour Ray played a song he had written for Johnny called "Mister Moonlight", which Johnny recorded and included in his classic album "The Battle of New Orleans", just prior to his tragic death in a car accident in 1960. Ray was the first live entertainment to perform in Calgary when the liquor bill was passed! When he was seventeen in an effort to earn enough money to make a trip to Nashville, Ray quit school and went to work for an appliance company where he cleaned used refrigerators before taking a job with Trans Canada Airlines as the office boy. With playing music on weekends he was able to save enough money to make his first trip to Nashville in 1961, leaving countless tapes of his songs with music publishers and record labels, at the same time doing his first session as an artist, recording his song "The Racing King". Released on his own label Ray Records and distributed by Quality Records, the record received a lot of airplay on the Canadian Music pop charts! In 1962 Ray presented his gospel song "Where Do I Go From Here" to another of his heroes Jim Reeves when Jim was in Calgary on a concert tour, a song that Jim later included on one of his gospel albums. Jim continued to be a mentor and friend to Ray encouraging him to move to Nashville which he did in 1964 after finishing up a night club tour of Eastern Canada. Shortly after his arrival in Nashville his friend and mentor Jim Reeves was killed in an airplane crash! Devastated and alone with forty dollars in his pocket and a million dreams, Ray spent the first few weeks sleeping in his car. This was a frightful dilemma to be in! No stranger to work, Ray kept on keeping on, always remembering his mothers words "Hold Fast Your Dreams"! He immediately worked toward stabilizing his situation! He rented a room in a cockroach infested rooming house with a bathroom that served all five tenants. He got a job repairing piano keys from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon, pitched his songs to record labels from three-thirty to five-thirty and worked from six to midnight at a record pressing plant. Somehow or other he still managed to write songs and entertain at a club in Bowling Green, Kentucky on weekends and get his high school diploma through a correspondence course. Bob Ferguson, the writer of the gospel standard "The Wings of a Dove" and a record producer at RCA was so impressed with this young man that he hired Ray to pitch songs for his publishing company. Ray's fee was thirty dollars a week and a place to sleep in the back of the office. It wasn't long before Ray was in the studio, self-producing and recording "Don't Lead Me On" and "That Weepin' Willow Tree". The session was presented to Chet Atkins at RCA and Ray was signed to its subsidiary label, Groove Records. The record started breaking out all across the southern United States and Canada and had the makings of becoming a huge hit until politics and artistic differences led to being let out of his contract. Ray's breakthrough as a songwriter came in 1965 when he played one of his songs "Baby" for renowned producer Owen Bradley. Owen recorded the song with Wilma Burgess, a new artist on Decca. The song hit the country top 10 launching Wilma's career as an artist and Rays career as a songwriter. For the next twenty years Ray would remain one of the most successful songwriters and independent music publishers in country music! His successes brought him forty eight singles in the top 100, as well as being the recipient of eighty seven ASCAP and BMI citations as a songwriter, artist, producer and music publisher, taking home an unprecedented sixteen ASCAP awards two years running in 1975 and 1976. In 1989 Ray was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and in 1998 he was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour. In 2008 Ray became the first Country Songwriter ever to receive the SOCAN "LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD." In 2015 Ray was inducted in the Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame. Ray has written and published over two thousand songs with more than seven hundred of his songs recorded by such renowned artists as: Eddy Arnold, Lavern Baker, Johnny Duncan, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Crystal Gayle, George Hamilton IV, Johnny Horton, Ferlin Huskey, Stonewall Jackson, George Jones, Wayne Kemp, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Locklin, Bob Luman, Loretta Lynn, Ann Margret, Wayne Newton, Dolly Parton, Ray Price, Charlie Pride, Del Reeves, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Carl Smith, Hank Snow, Mel Tillis, Conway Twitty, Porter Wagoner, Gene Watson, Roger Whittaker, Slim Whitman, Faron Young. For a complete list of song titles: Click on "the Compositions" Ray has produced such artists as: Judy Andrews, Sheila Ann, Jack Bailey, Roy Bee, B.J. Berg, Charlie Borchet, Marie Bottrell, Gary Buck, Glory Ann Carrier, Terry Carrise, Cori Chandler, Bernice Cochran, Laura Creegan, Dick Damron, Gracie Dee, Eddy Eastman, Gary Fairburn, Gale Gavin, Gene Gebo, Gilles Godard, Mike Graham, Keith Kitchner, Jack Holland, Doug Hutton, Chuck Irvin, Susan Jacks, Carole Ann King, Isa Lacoste, Sharon Lowness, Toni Lynn, Shelby Mason, Marla, Tracy Miller, Mylita, Jason McCoy, Ernie McCulloch, Brent McAthey, Denyce Mowery, Dick O'Leary, Par Three, Claudia Payne, Ronnie Prophet, Rebecca, Kenny Roberts, Mica Roberts, Juanita Rose, Susanne Shay, Rev. Bruce Sheasby, Ann Simmons, Garrett Storm, Kelli Veno, John Warren. For a complete list of song titles: Click on "the Compositions" As a recording artist Ray has had twenty plus self-produced International hits For a complete list of song titles: Click on "the Compositions" RAY GRIFF ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY Album Title Year Label A RAY OF SUNSHINE 1968 ABC/DOT THE ENTERTAINER 1972 GRT RAY GRIFF SINGS 1972 ABC/DOT THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD 1973 GRT SONGS FOR EVERYONE 1973 ABC/DOT EXPRESSIONS 1974 ABC/DOT RAY GRIFF 1976 CAPITOL LAST OF THE WINFIELD AMATEURS 1976 CAPITOL RAYMOND'S PLACE 1977 CAPITOL THE WORLD OF RAY GRIFF 1977 RCA RAY'S BAR AND GRILL (Piano Inst) 1978 BOOT/LONDON CANADA 1979 BOOT/LONDON MAPLE LEAF 1980 BOOT/LONDON ADAM'S CHILD 1981 BOOT/LONDON GREATEST HITS 1982 BOOT/LONDON YOU CAN COUNT ON ME 1983 RCA YOU 1983 RCA THE SKY IS THE LIMIT 1985 RCA MY KIND OF COUNTRY 1987 BOOKSHOP/RCA RAY GRIFF AND FRIENDS (duets) 1988 WARNER THERE'LL ALWAYS BE CHRISTMAS 1990 ATI MUSIC AND MEMORIES 1990 QUALITY CANADA (MY NATIVE LAND) 1991 FOCUS THROUGH THE YEARS - Vol.1 1992 FOCUS THROUGH THE YEARS - Vol.2 1992 FOCUS SEE YA, LOVE YA, BYE 2001 FOCUS ADAM'S CHILD 2002 FOCUS 24 CARAT COUNTRY GOLD 2003 FOCUS PURE IVORY (Piano Instrumentals) 2004 FOCUS REAL LOVE 2004 FOCUS 24 CARAT COUNTRY GOLD II 2005 FOCUS BRING IT ON 2009 FOCUS HEART STRINGS 2011 FOCUS DRAW ME A LINE 2012 FOCUS WANDERIN' THROUGH THE VALLEYS 2013 FOCUS HONKY TONK FEVER 2013 FOCUS ROCKIN' RAY 2014 FOCUS THE ENTERTAINER (Greatest U. S./Canadian Hits) 2014 REAL GONE MUSIC For a complete list of Ray's Recorded Music: Click on "the Compositions" For a list of Ray's Inductions, Awards, Achievements and Guest Appearances: Click on the Awards" the BIO the LATEST the AWARDS the COMPOSITIONS Ray's HOUSE Ray's STORE Ray's PHOTOS LINKS Copyright 2000 - 2016 Ray Griff (All Rights Reserved)
RAY GRIFF ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY