1940s-50s success

Price served in the Marines, 1944-1946, and began singing on KRBC in Abilene, Texas in 1948. He joined the "Big D Jamboree" in Dallas in 1949. He hit Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a short time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price took over his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a hit with "Release Me" (1954), a top five pop hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967.

Price became one of the stalwarts of the grinding, honky-tonk music that became even more popular in the early 1950s with such singers as Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Webb Pierce and others. Price developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle Beat" (the 4/4 shuffle) that is heard on "Crazy Arms," which served as the beat for many honky-tonk classics since then.

In 1953, Price formed his famous band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members in the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and Johnny Paycheck. In fact, Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues," and sang harmony on the recording. In addition, Nelson penned the Ray Price classic "Night Life."

Besides his numerous country hits, Ray Price also was a favorite of pop music fans for his 1967 hit "Danny Boy" and "For the Good Times" in 1970.

Later career

Price's first #1 hit since "The Same Old Me" in 1959 was "For The Good Times" in 1970. Written by Kris Kristofferson, the song also made it to #11 on the pop chart and featured a more mellow Price backed up by sophisticated musical sounds, quite the opposite from the honky-tonk sounds Price pioneered two decades before. Price had three more #1 country hits in the 1970s, "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me." His final top-ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country chart through 1989. Today he is singing gospel music and has recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have in Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages".

In 2006, Price was living near Mount Pleasant, Texas and still performing in concerts throughout the country.

Ray Price has recently been working on a new album entitled Last of the Breed with fellow country music legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007 on the Lost Highway Records label. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio will tour the U.S. from March 09 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This is Price's third album with Willie Nelson and first album with Merle Haggard.