Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i

Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...

band

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted mor ...

as well as an actor and voice actor. He Death In Car Crash Accident

Biography

In 1970, Benson, a native of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, formed Asleep at the Wheel with friends

Lucky Oceans Lucky Oceans (born Reuben Gosfield, 21 April 1951) is an American pedal steel guitarist and a former member of country and Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. From 1995 to 2017 he was a broadcaster in Perth, Western Australia with the Austr ...

and Leroy Preston in Paw Paw, West Virginia. They were soon joined by Gene Dobkin, a classmate of Benson's at

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was i ...

, and Chris O'Connell. The group relocated to Austin in 1973 after a suggestion from

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

. Since then, the group has released more than 20 albums and earned 9

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

awards. Though the band's lineup has changed greatly over the years (about 90 people have been part of Asleep at the Wheel at some point), Benson has always remained at the helm