Ray Price

Born in Perryville, Texas, Ray Price served in the military before settling down to his lifetime profession as a country music legend. He moved to Nashville in the early 1950s and became friends with Hank Williams. After Williams died, Price briefly took over his band The Wandering Cowboys but soon moved on to form his own band, which at various times included such future country staples as Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Johnny Paycheck. Price was always willing to reach out to promising new musicians, and so many country legends came into the industry through Price's Cherokee Cowboys, pioneers of the rough-edged, high-energy variant that came to be known as the honky-tonk sound. In the 1960s, the slicker Nashville sound became a part of Price's music and he began to experiment more with the music he performed. His earlier hits with such songs as Miller's ″Invitation to the Blues″ and Nelson's ″Night Life″ soon gave way to a more sophisticated sound. Ballads became a big part of his repertoire, and strings and harmonies were added. His recording of Kris Kristofferson's ″For the Good Times″ was a number one hit during this period, as was the sentimental standard ″Danny Boy. ″ He continued to chart hits, though not always in the top ten, throughout the '70s, but as the Nashville sound waned in popularity, so did Ray Price's ability to stay in the charts. However, he was never one to compromise when it came to music. During the 1980s he began to record gospel music and even took a bit of a break for a decade or so before recording a farewell album, Last of the Breed (2007) with Merle Haggard and his old friend Willie Nelson. Price died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 87 at his ranch in Mount Pleasant, Texas on December 16, 2013.