Collin Raye

All Music Guide:

Contemporary country star Collin Raye burned up the sales charts in the '90s, thanks to a blend of country-rock and smooth balladry, and a willingness to record socially conscious material in between the dance and romance tunes. Raye was actually born Floyd Collin Wray in DeQueen, AR, in 1959, and his mother, Lois, was a locally popular singer who opened concerts for various Sun Records stars in the '50s. She sometimes brought Collin and his older brother Scott on-stage to harmonize with her, and so Collin first performed publicly at the age of seven. As teenagers, he and Scott formed a country-rock outfit called the Wray Brothers Band, and Collin adopted the stage name Bubba Wray. They first played in Texas roadhouses and honky tonks and later found regular gigs in Portland, OR, and Reno, NV; the group also recorded several independent-label singles starting in 1983. Shortening their name to the Wrays, they signed with Mercury in 1986 and released two singles over the next two years, but nothing came of them, and the group broke up. Raye contemplated leaving music in favor of a factory job that would support his new family but elected to stick it out, changing the spelling of his name and ultimately landing a deal with Epic in 1990.

Raye released his debut album, All I Can Be, in 1991, and it really took off with the release of the second single, "Love, Me." A tearjerker about the death of a loved one, "Love, Me" zoomed to the top of the country charts in early 1992, becoming a popular funeral song among fans. The follow-up single, "Every Second," went to number two, and All I Can Be went platinum -- as did its follow-up, 1992's In This Life, whose title track became Raye's second number one hit and a popular wedding ballad. In This Life also spun off three additional Top Ten hits in "I Want You Bad (And That Ain't Good)," "That Was a River," and "Somebody Else's Moon." Raye notched his third straight million-selling album with 1994's harder-rocking Extremes, whose number two hit "Little Rock" was Raye's first big message song, taking on the subject of alcohol abuse. He also hit the Top Ten with "That's My Story," "Man of My Word," and "If I Were You" and landed another number one with "My Kind of Girl." 1995's I Think About You returned to his trademark ballad-heavy style and became his fourth platinum album in a row, helped by the Top Five hits "One Boy, One Girl," the anti-domestic-violence title track, the anti-racism "Not That Different," and "On the Verge."

Having cranked out hits for the last four years, Raye relaxed a little bit, issuing only the holiday album Christmas: The Gift in 1996 and the compilation The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits the following year; the latter's newly recorded "What the Heart Wants" and "Little Red Rodeo" both went Top Five. Finally, Raye issued another full album of new material, The Walls Came Down, in 1998. "Someone You Used to Know" and "Anyone Else" both made the Top Five, and "I Can Still Feel You" became Raye's fourth number one hit; the album also contained an anti-child-abuse statement in "The Eleventh Commandment." Perhaps Raye's recent divorce had turned his attention to children even more than usual, for he followed that with an album of lullabies for kids, Counting Sheep, in 2000. Later that year, he issued the proper album Tracks, which featured the Top Five hit "Couldn't Last a Moment" but didn't produce the usual number of massive singles. The follow-up, 2001's Can't Back Down, confirmed that Raye was hitting a sales slump, as it became his first album to miss the country Top Ten. The newly independent Raye took nearly five years to release his studio follow-up--Live at Billy Bob's Texas arrived in 2004. The resulting Twenty Years and Change marked a return--for better or for worse-- to the ballad-heavy style that won him acclaim in the late-nineties.

Wikipedia:

Floyd Collin Wray (born August 22, 1959 or 1960, in De Queen, Arkansas) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye. He made his debut on the American country music scene in 1991 with the release of his debut album All I Can Be, which produced his first Number One hit in "Love, Me". All I Can Be was the first of four consecutive albums released by Raye to achieve platinum certification in the United States for sales of one million copies each.

He maintained several Top Ten hits throughout the rest of the decade and into 2000. 2001's Can't Back Down was his first album that did not produce a Top 40 country hit, and he was dropped by his record label soon afterward. He did not record another studio album until 2005's Twenty Years and Change, released on an independent label.

Between 1991 and 2007, Raye charted 30 singles on the U.S. country charts; he has also charted twice on the Adult Contemporary format as a duet partner on two Jim Brickman songs. Four of Raye's singles have reached Number One on the Billboard country music charts: 1992's "Love, Me" and "In This Life", 1994's "My Kind of Girl", and 1998's "I Can Still Feel You". He has also recorded a total of eleven studio albums, counting a Christmas album and a compilation of lullabies, in addition to releasing a Greatest Hits compilation, a live album, and a live CD/DVD package. His most recent album, Never Going Back, was released via Saguaro Road Records on April 28, 2009.

Early years

Floyd Collin Wray was born in De Queen, Arkansas on August 22. His mother, Lois Wray, was a local musician; in the 1950s, she served as an opening act for several Sun Records artists, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. Later, she became a solo musician in her own right; she would occasionally bring both Floyd and his brother Scott onstage to sing harmony vocals. By the 1980s, the two brothers began a country-rock band called the Wray Brothers Band, in which Collin assumed the stage name Bubba Wray. The Wray Brothers Band performed primarily in the state of Texas, and later in Reno, Nevada, eventually releasing singles on independent labels. By 1986, the band (which had shortened its name to The Wrays) signed to Mercury Records, releasing four singles. After the singles performed poorly on the charts, The Wrays disbanded.

Solo career

Beginnings

After altering the spelling of his last name to Raye, Collin was signed to a record deal with Epic Records in 1990. His debut single, "All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory)", entered the charts in 1991, reaching a peak of #29 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Raye's first album, also titled All I Can Be, was released soon afterward.

The follow-up single, a ballad co-written by Skip Ewing and titled "Love, Me," reached Number One on the country music charts in early 1992, holding the peak position for three weeks. All I Can Be was then certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album's final single was "Every Second," which peaked at #2 on Billboard.

In This Life and Extremes

Raye's second album, titled In This Life, was released in 1992. The album's title track, which served as its lead-off single, not only went to the top of the Billboard country charts, but also became a hit on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. In late 1992, Raye made an appearance on the Carl Weathers television drama series "Street Justice", where he gave a live performance of "In This Life". The first season episode, entitled "Country Justice", was directed by David Winning. The album produced three additional Top Ten country hits, and was also certified platinum.

1993 saw the release of Raye's third album. Titled Extremes, it received critical acclaim for its more socially aware content, most evidently in the second single, "Little Rock", a story of a recovering alcoholic. The song's accompanying music video also promoted Al-Anon, an international support group for friends and family of alcoholics. Overall, Extremes produced five straight Top Ten hits on the country charts, including the Number One single "My Kind of Girl" in 1994; it also became Raye's third consecutive platinum album.

I Think About You and The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits

I Think About You was the title of Raye's fourth album. Released in 1995, it produced six singles overall and became Raye's fourth consecutive platinum-certified album. The album's title track was a Top Five hit on the country charts; in addition, its music video won a Video of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music.

In 1996, Raye also released a Christmas album titled Christmas: The Gift. He also appeared on Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, a Beach Boys album featuring lead vocals by country musicians. A year later, his first Greatest Hits package was issued; titled The Best of Collin Raye: Direct Hits, it comprised several of his hit singles from the past five years, as well as four new songs, of which three released as singles. "What the Heart Wants" and "Little Red Rodeo" both reached Top Five on the country music charts, while "The Gift", a collaboration with Jim Brickman and Susan Ashton, was a Top Five hit on the Adult Contemporary charts. Direct Hits received a gold certification from the RIAA for selling 500,000 copies in the United States.

The Walls Came Down

The Walls Came Down was the title of Raye's fifth studio album. Released in 1998, it produced his fourth and final Billboard Number One single in "I Can Still Feel You". "Someone You Used to Know" and the Radney Foster-penned "Anyone Else" were both Top Five hits as well. "Start Over Georgia", the fourth single (co-written by Raye's brother), peaked at #39. Also included on The Walls Came Down was a ballad entitled "The Eleventh Commandment", in which Raye addressed the issue of child abuse. Although not released as a single, "The Eleventh Commandment" was made into a music video, which featured a number for a child abuse hotline at the end.

The same year, he appeared on compilation CD Tribute To Tradition (released on Columbia label) with cover versions of Cold Cold Heart (country classic recorded by Hank Williams in 1957) and Honky Tonk Heroes (Like Me) (a major hit for Waylon Jennings in 1973, written by Billy Joe Shaver). Raye duets with Joe Diffie on the latter song.

Counting Sheep, a special album composed of lullabies for Raye's children, was released in 2000.

2000s

2001 saw the release of Tracks, Raye's sixth album. Its first release, the primarily spoken-word "Couldn't Last a Moment", was a Top Five hit on the country charts. "Tired of Loving This Way", which followed, was a duet with singer and actress Bobbie Eakes. Although it was Raye's first single to miss the Top 40 entirely, it provided Eakes with her first and only appearance on the country music charts.

Can't Back Down, Raye's last album for Epic, was released in 2001. Neither of the album's two singles entered Top 40 on the country music charts. Because of a conflict with his label, Raye asked out of his contract that year. Although he did not have a record label at the time, he entered the Adult Contemporary charts for the third time in 2003, as a duet partner on Jim Brickman's single "Peace (Where the Heart Is)". 2004 saw the release of Raye's first live album, Live at Billy Bob's Texas, and a promotional single titled "World History 101" was released in 2005.

2005-present

In 2005, Raye signed to the independent Aspirion label, releasing his Twenty Years and Change album. Two singles were released from the album, although neither single charted. The same year, Raye appeared in television commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear, in which he sang the jingle "You Can't Over-Love Your Underwear" (with the "Apple" character lip-syncing the song in the commercial) and was a guest vocalist on the single "Merry Christmas Angel" by Brit, a tribute song to the events of September 11. Another studio album, Fearless, was released in 2006 on Country Roads Records, although it did not produce any singles.

In 2007, a CD/DVD combination titled The Power in You was released, followed by an EP titled Selected Hits. The latter includes "That's My Story", "Little Rock", "I Think About You" and "Love, Me", as well as two new tracks: "A Soldier's Prayer" and "Quitters", the latter of which was co-written by Canadian country singer George Canyon. Both of the new tracks were released as singles in 2007, and the former peaked at #59 on Hot Country Songs.

Raye's next album, Never Going Back, was released on April 28, 2009 on the Saguaro Road label. Its first single is "Mid-Life Chrysler". It also includes the track "She's With Me," which is a tribute to Raye's granddaughter, Haley, who died from a severe but undiagnosed brain disorder.

Musical stylings

Raye is known primarily for his country pop ballads, such as "Love, Me" (a popular choice at funerals) and "In This Life" (one of the most popular wedding songs of the 1990s).

Raye is also known for dealing with social issues in his material. "Little Rock", for example, tells of a recovering alcoholic; its music video included the number for Al-Anon, as a means of public service announcement. "What If Jesus Comes Back Like That", from his I Think About You album, is a power ballad that poses questions about the return of Jesus Christ in the modern world. In "The Eleventh Commandment", a track from The Walls Came Down, Raye addresses child abuse, suggesting "honor thy children" as an eleventh commandment to accompany the Ten Commandments. In the song's music video, a telephone number for the child abuse hotline ChildHelp USA was included.

Social activism

Raye became the national spokesperson for the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network in September 2011.