TOP OF THE CHARTS
Ray Price reached the Billboard Hot 100 eight times from 1958 to 1973 and had seven No. 1 hits and more than 100 titles on the Billboard country chart from 1952 to 1989. “For the Good Times” was his biggest crossover hit, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard pop music singles chart. His other country hits included “Crazy Arms,” ”Release Me,” ”The Same Old Me,” ”Heartaches by the Number,” ”City Lights” and “Too Young to Die.”
— Associated Press
Ray Price, one of country music’s most popular and influential singers and bandleaders, died Monday. He was 87.
Price, who had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to American music legend Hank Williams, died Monday afternoon at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, Texas, said Billy Mack Jr., a family spokesman.
Price was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011. He stopped aggressive treatments and left the hospital last Thursday to receive hospice care at home.
At the time, his wife, Janie, relayed what she called her husband’s “final message”: “I love my fans and have devoted my life to reaching out to them. I appreciate their support all these years, and I hope I haven’t let them down. I am at peace. I love Jesus. I’m going to be just fine. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you again one day.”
Perhaps best known for his version of the Kris Kristofferson song “For the Good Times,” a pop hit in 1970, the velvet-voiced Price was a giant among traditional country performers in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, as likely to defy a trend as he was to defend one. He helped invent the genre’s honky-tonk sound early in his career, then took his music in a more polished direction.
“If you got a pop hit, you sold a lot more records,” Price said in 2000.
Price was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, long after he’d become dissatisfied with Nashville and returned to his home state of Texas.
His importance went well beyond hit singles. He was among the pioneers who popularized electric instruments and drums in country music, and he gave early breaks to Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and other major performers.
“For the Good Times” was his defining hit, but his crossover success started in the late 1960s with a heavily orchestrated version of “Danny Boy.” He then outraged his dance-hall fans by touring with a string-laden, 20-piece band.
Like Nelson, his good friend and contemporary, Price simply didn’t care what others thought and pursued the chance to make his music the way he wanted to.
“I have fought prejudice since I got in country music and I will continue to fight it,” he said in 1981. “A lot of people want to keep country music in the minority of people. But it belongs to the world. It’s art.”
Price continued performing and recording well into his 70s.
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Over the years, he came in and out of vogue as traditional country music waxed and waned on the radio.
He recently re-entered the news when he took offense to singer Blake Shelton’s criticism of the classic country sound. The dustup drew attention on the Internet and introduced Price to a new generation of country fans.
“You should be so lucky as us old-timers,” Price said in a happily cantankerous post in all capital letters. “Check back in 63 years (the year 2075) and let us know how your name and your music will be remembered.”
As a young man, Price became friends with Hank Williams, toured with the country legend and shared a house with him in Nashville.
By 1952 Price was a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. “Crazy Arms,” his first No. 1 hit, used a drummer and bassist to create a country shuffle rhythm that eventually would become a trademark.
“It was strictly country and it went pop,” Price said of the song. “I never have figured that one out yet.”
Price was born near Perryville, Texas, in 1926 and was raised in Dallas. He joined the Marines in World War II and then studied to be a veterinarian at North Texas Agricultural College before he decided on music as a career.
Soft-spoken and urbane, Price said in 1976: “I’m my own worst critic. I don’t like to hear myself sing or see myself on television. I see too many mistakes.”
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