Francisco Gomez (born January 8, 1987), known professionally as Frank Ray, is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer. Signed to BBR Music Group, he has released the single "Country'd Look Good on You".

Biography

Francisco Gomez is a native of

Deming, New Mexico Deming (, ''DEM-ing'') is a city in Luna County, New Mexico, Luna County, New Mexico, United States, west of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Las Cruces and north of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. The population was 14,758 as of the ...

. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and he lived with his mother in Laredo and

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. He then moved to

Columbus, New Mexico Columbus is an incorporated village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States, about north of the Mexican border. It is considered a place of historical interest, as the scene of a 1916 attack by Mexican general Francisco "Pancho" Villa that ...

with his father. It was through his moving that he began listening to not only

, but also ''

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in the vast majority of regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional fo ...

'' music. As he is of Hispanic descent, he thought that he would "stand out" as a country musician, citing other Hispanic artists such as

Freddy Fender Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Country and Tejano singer, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. His signature sound fused cou ...

as inspiration on this front. From 2007 to 2017, Gomez worked as a

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

. After having success with performances on weekends and gaining regional commercial success with songs on the Texas country charts, he retired from the police force and began singing full-time. He released an EP titled ''Different Kind of Country'' in 2018 under his performing name of Frank Ray. In addition, he became an opening act for Ashley McBryde. In 2021, Ray signed with BBR Music Group and released the song "Streetlights". The song features Ray singing in both English and Spanish. Ray was contacted by BBR staff after one of them discovered a previous song of his, "Tequila Mockingbird", on a

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

playlist. Later in the year he issued his debut single, "Country'd Look Good on You". This was followed in January 2022 by his first performance on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

. The same month, "Country'd Look Good on You" entered the top 40 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since October 20, 2012, although the magazine also retrospectively recognizes the Hot Country Songs charts from January 20, 1990, through October 13, 2012, ...

charts, and went on to peak in the top 20 of the chart in September.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Frank American male singers American country singers BBR Music Group artists Living people People from Luna County, New Mexico 1987 births