Douglas Gray (born May 22, 1948) is an American singer, who is a founding member and lead vocalist of

The Marshall Tucker Band The Marshall Tucker Band is an American rock band from Spartanburg, South Carolina. Noted for incorporating blues, country and jazz into an eclectic sound, the Marshall Tucker Band helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s. Wh ...

Biography

Doug Gray was born on May 22, 1948, in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...

. While high school mates, Gray and bassist,

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Na ...

joined a band called ''The New Generation''. The band consisted of: Gray on vocals; Tommy Caldwell on bass; Randy Foster on rhythm guitar; Keith Wood on lead guitar; Dan Powell on organ; and Ross Hanna on drums. In 1968, they co-wrote a single, "Because of Love (It's All Over)" and released on a 45rpm record. After high school, The New Generation merged with another local band, ''The Rants'', which included: guitarist,

Toy Caldwell Toy Talmadge Caldwell Jr. (November 13, 1947 – February 25, 1993) was an American musician who was most notable as the lead guitarist and main songwriter of the 1970s Southern Rock group The Marshall Tucker Band. A founding member of the b ...

(brother of Tommy); saxophonist, keyboardist and flutist,

Jerry Eubanks Jerry Eubanks (born March 9, 1950) is an American musician best known as the original saxophonist, keyboardist and flautist for The Marshall Tucker Band. His flute and sax solos were a signature of the band. Eubanks left the Marshall Tucker Band ...

; and drummer, Ross Hanna (1951-2019), to form a new band called the ''Toy Factory''. As the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

dragged on, many of the members joined various military branches with Gray joining the Army and serving in the Vietnam War. After his duty in the military, Gray rejoined the Caldwell brothers and Eubanks of the ''Toy Factory''. They recruited guitarist,

George McCorkle George McCorkle (October 11, 1946 – June 29, 2007) was a founding member and guitarist for the Marshall Tucker Band. He wrote " Fire on the Mountain", the band's first top 40 hit, though had hoped that Charlie Daniels would record the song. He ...

along with drummer, Paul Riddle. By 1972, they changed their everlasting band name to

(name of man who was hometown piano tuner in the cotton-mill city of Spartanburg). Gray remained with the band for its entire career and he is the only original member who still performs with the band today. Gray sang lead on most of the band's songs. There are several exceptions to this in the band's catalogue, including " Can't You See," "Every Day I Have The Blues", and "This Ol' Cowboy", which all featured founder and guitarist

as the lead singer. In addition to singing, Gray also sometimes plays tambourine and in the band's early days he played keyboards.

References

1948 births Living people American male singers American rock singers Musicians from Spartanburg, South Carolina American tambourine players The Marshall Tucker Band members United States Army soldiers {{US-rock-singer-stub