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 and financial hard ships,
Katherine left with her two sons and moved to Winfield, Alberta
where she found employment as a bookkeeper.
Her sheer determination and years of sacrificing is what molded Ray!With a stuttering problem, although it was very difficult for Ray,
he was determined to do something special with his life.
Having 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 that he taught himself to play.
It was about this time that Ray started writing songs!
A milestone however was when Katherine scraped together
enough funds to buy an old upright piano. Since there was
no money for lessons, 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 and on weekends to
help with the family bills.Ray loved sports and although there was little time to
participate, Ray received a special invitation from the
Canadian Olympic team, after he had set a record in the
long jump at a city school track meet. In his continued
quest for a career in music Ray felt best to decline! Ray
fronted his own group in the late 50's called The Blue Echo's,
and began to earn a name for himself in and around Calgary,
performing at high school hops and at local community affairs.
It was during one of these performances that he attracted
the attention of local radio personality and promoter D'Arcy
Scott, who asked Ray to be the opening act for the great
Johnny Horton on a tour of Western Canada.Ray was sixteen and his dreams were beginning to come true!
During the tour Ray played a song he had written for Johnny
called "Mister Moonlight", which Johnny included in his classic
album "The Battle Of New Orleans". Ray decided to quit school
and 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,
at the same time doing his first session as an artist, recording
"The Racing King", that got a lot of play on pop radio across Canada.
For the next two years Ray fine-tuned his talents as a songwriter
and 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 invited Ray to
move to Nashville. After completing a Canadian nightclub tour,
Ray made the long anticipated move to Music City in 1964, with
forty dollars in his pocket and a million dreams. Shortly after
Ray's arrival, his friend and mentor Jim Reeves was killed!
Ray spent the first few weeks sleeping in his car.Though devastated and alone, he was determined to make it
in the world of country music! Ray 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. Even with his heavy timetable
Ray managed to write songs as well as getting his high school
diploma through a correspondence course.Bob Ferguson, a record producer in town 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. Ray remained
with the label until artistic differences led him to be let out
of his contract.Shortly thereafter Ray played a song for renowned producer
Owen Bradley. The song was "Baby". Owen recorded the
song with Wilma Burgess, a new artist on Decca and Ray's
career as a songwriter and music publisher was under way.For the next twenty plus years Ray Griff would remain one of
the hottest songwriters and music publishers in Country music.
His successes have brought him forty eight singles in the top 100,
as well as being the recipient of eighty seven ASCAP and BMI
citations as a song writer, artist, producer and publisher, taking
home an unprecedented sixteen ASCAP awards two years running
in 1975 and 1976.Ray has written 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 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.As a recording artist Ray has scored with such hits as:
'You Ring My Bell', 'Patches', 'Darling', 'If I Let Her Come In',
'Your Lily White Hands', and 'The Morning After Baby Let Me Down'.Ray also hosted his own Network TV show in Canada as well as
appearing as a guest on such major television shows as "Dean
Martin Show","Rollin' On The River", "Tommy Hunter Show", "Porter
Wagoner Show", "Alan Hamil Show" and "Ian Tyson Show".Rays on stage performances have earned him the name "The Entertainer"!As a record producer Ray has produced such artist's as:
Sheila Ann, Gary Buck, Dick Damron, Glory Anne Carrier,
Jack Bailey, Susan Jacks, Eddy Eastman, Terry Carrise,
Gale Gavin, Mica, Jack Holland, Sharon Lowness, Jason McCoy,
Ronnie Prophet, Kenny Roberts, Gene Gebo, Laura Creegan,
Gary Fairburn, Gilles Godard, Johnny Harlow and Carole Ann King.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.
