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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZGRAY, Dobie(b Laurence Darrow Brown, 26 July 1940, Brookshire/ Simonton TX; d 6 December 2011) Singer, songwriter. From a large sharecropping family, he grew up in Houston, and went to the West Coast seeking fortune as singer: he recorded under various names (Leonard Victor Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, Larry Dennis) before adopting the name Dobie Gray. His minor hit 'Look At Me' '63 was followed by 'The In Crowd' (which he co-wrote) reaching no. 13 USA, 25 UK, beaten in the charts by Ramsey Lewis USA and Bryan Ferry UK, but Gray sold a million, and his song seemed to sum up an era. He tried acting in NYC and West Coast productions of Hair; joined an L.A. septet called Pollution (album '71). He had a total of eight Hot 100 entries on five labels '63-78: 'Drift Away' was no. 5 USA '73, his only top 10 entry; 'Loving Arms' the same year sold 600,000 copies but only reached no. 61; 'You Can Do It' made the top 40 '78. Based in Nashville since the mid '70s, he wrote hits covered by Don Williams etc; worked as session singer and recorded for Capitol '86-8 with minor country hits. His albums included Drift Away and Loving Arms '73, Hey Dixie '74 on MCA; New Ray Of Sunshine '75 on Capricorn; Midnight Diamond '78 on Infinity was doing well when the label went broke; From Where I Stand and Love's Talkin' '86-7 were on Capitol. |