Raymond Edward Dorset (born 21 March 1946) is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, and founder of

Mungo Jerry Mungo Jerry (formerly known as Mungo Jerry Blues Band) are a British rock band formed by Ray Dorset in Ashford, Middlesex, in 1970. Experiencing their greatest success in the early 1970s, with a changing line-up always fronted by Dorset, the ...

. He composed most of the songs for the band, including the hit singles "

In the Summertime "In the Summertime" is the debut single by British rock band Mungo Jerry, released in 1970. It reached number one in charts around the world, including seven weeks on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks at number one on the Canadian charts, and ...

", " Baby Jump", " Lady Rose", "

You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War "You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War" is a popular song and hit single by the British group Mungo Jerry, first released in 1971. Chart performance Written by the group's lead vocalist Ray Dorset and produced by Barry Murray, it w ...

", " Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black", and "Hello Nadine", with " Feels Like I'm in Love" becoming a number one hit single for the Scottish disco singer Kelly Marie.

Early life

Dorset attended Stanwell Road School (which was renamed Abbotsford County Secondary School) and then Southall Grammar School from the age of 13 after passing the eleven plus exam. He formed The Blue Moon Skiffle Group as a teenager. He worked as an apprentice hairdresser for nine months after leaving the school without qualifications. After this he studied for a

City and Guilds The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has bee ...

qualification at Twickenham College of Technology and worked for Radio Control Specialists Ltd, National Works, Bath Road, Hounslow, a firm that manufactured radio control equipment for models and film work as well as electro-mechanical components.

Music career

In 1968, Dorset formed the group Good Earth, which included Colin Earl on keyboards, Dave Hutchins on bass, and Ray Bowerman on drums. They recorded the album ''It's Hard Rock And All That'' on the Saga

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

, before Hutchins and Bowerman left. Joe Rush joined on washboard and the group adopted a more acoustic-based

skiffle Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...

style. In 1970, with further line-up changes, the group became

with hits to follow such as "

". The song took Dorset only ten minutes to compose on a second-hand

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

while he was taking time off work from his regular job, working in a laboratory for Timex. Dorset has also maintained a solo career parallel to his

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

of Mungo Jerry. In 1972, he released the album '' Cold Blue Excursion'', made up entirely of self-penned songs, many featuring strings and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

accompaniment. In 1983, he was part of one-off

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

outfit Katmandu with Peter Green and

Vincent Crane Vincent Rodney Cheesman (21 May 194314 February 1989), known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (he was a co-writer of that group's 1968 hit single "Fire") ...

, who recorded an album '' A Case for the Blues''. In 1986, billed as 'Made in England', he recorded and released the theme tune for the TV drama series '' Prospects'', which was also released as a single. One song recorded by Mungo Jerry, " Feels Like I'm in Love", was originally written by Dorset for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

, who died before the song could be recorded. Nevertheless, in 1979 it was recorded by the Scottish

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

singer Kelly Marie, and became a UK number one in September 1980. This made Dorset one of the first songwriters to top the UK Singles Chart with singles performed by himself, and by another musician.

Later disputes

In 2012, Dorset sued his former management company Associated Music International (AMI) for over £2 million in

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

from the 1973 song "Alright, Alright, Alright" which he believed had been wrongfully kept from him. During the course of the proceedings Dorset denied harassing his ex-manager by singing in an "antisemitic" video entitled "Nail that Snail." In 2017, the High Court ordered Dorset to pay AMI a sum of £33,600, finding that he had misrepresented the ownership rights to the song. It did not order that royalties be paid to AMI.

Personal life

A father of six, Dorset lives with his third wife, Britta, in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, Interviewed in 2014, Dorset said, "Each of my three marriages has produced two children and I also have three grandchildren. I married my present wife, Britta, in 1995. We sold our home in her native Germany and moved completely to Bournemouth, where we’ve been based since 1994 and own two houses and a restaurant. I should be retired, but my brain is like that of an 18-year-old." Dorset is a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and a member of Chelsea Lodge No. 3098. He can be seen performing "In the Summertime" in the five-part documentary "Inside the Freemasons", produced for

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

in 2017. In 2016, Dorset said that he had suffered from

irritable bowel syndrome Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...

for over 45 years, partly blaming the "rock 'n' roll lifestyle" that he enjoyed after the success of "In the Summertime". In June 2021 Dorset said, during an interview with radio and TV presenter

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for mus ...

, that he had recovered from open-heart surgery. He added that he no longer had his trademark sideburns, because they had been difficult to manage in hospital, and that although all his hair was real, he dyed it.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorset, Ray 1946 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English rock guitarists English male guitarists English Freemasons Blues harmonica players People from Ashford, Surrey Mungo Jerry members Katmandu (band) members