During his long and distinguished career, Ray Price has accomplished the remarkable feat of re-inventing hard-core honky-tonk and also gaining success with lushly arranged love ballads aimed at the country-and-pop crossover market. Whether clad in rhinestone suits or tuxedos, he has maintained an independence characteristic of great innovators in all artistic fields.
He was born Ray Noble Price near Perryville, Texas, on Jan. 12, 1926. As a boy, he divided his time between his father's farm and his mother's home in Dallas, where she moved after she and her husband divorced. After serving in the U. S. Marines during World War II, Ray planned to become a veterinarian and attended North Texas Agricultural College.