Posted on 12/16/2013 3:49:35 PM PST by Doogle
Ray Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders who had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to Hank Williams, died Monday. He was 87.
Price died Monday afternoon at his ranch outside Mount Pleasant, said Billy Mack Jr., who was acting as a family spokesman. Billie Perryman, the wife of family friend and spokesman Tom Perryman, a DJ with KKUS-FM in Tyler, also confirmed his death.
Price was discharged last week from the East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, where he had been in and out in recent months as he was treated for cancer and its complications. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011 and it has recently spread to his liver, intestines and lungs, the hospital said.
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 it in a more polished direction.
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Dang, we are losing icons so quickly.
And there are NO replacements.
RIP Ray!
And prayers for the family.
...For the Good Times...grew up with it on WHDH...
...was just listening to it..
RIP ... memories of family surrounding a vacuum tube radio are recalled and a particular time when I was 14 and stranded in the middle of nowhere.
RIP
Another great one gone.
RIP Mr. Price.
Dying so late in the tax year must really suck.
My late father-in-law held on until January 1rst.
He died with a smile on his face.
Price was among the man talents I grew up listening to. My parents were big fans. RIP.
Love that song.
Burning Memories.
I read yesterday he was dead only to be updated that he was alive. Is he really dead this time around??
A great talent in country and pop music.
Loved him and his music.
God rest his soul and give comfort to his family.
Ray sings “City Lights” live on Play It Again Nashville in 1985.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_bugvByl4
RIP. I liked his early Honkey Tonk stuff, but really disliked the “smooth” style he adapted after Chet Atkins created the much maligned “Nashville Sound.” Anita Kerr singers and violins instead of steel guitars and fiddles.
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