Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American

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 ...

guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

Early life

Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...

, while his father was stationed at

Fort Benning Fort Benning (named Fort Moore from 2023–2025) is a United States Army post in the Columbus, Georgia area. Located on Georgia's border with Alabama, Fort Benning supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve compone ...

. Cray's musical beginnings go back to when he was a student at Denbigh High School in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...

. While there, he played in his first band, The One-Way Street. His family eventually settled in the

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, area. There, he attended

Lakes High School Lakes High School is located in Lakewood, Washington. It serves students from 9th grade to 12th grade. It is one of the two major high schools in the Clover Park School District. Daffodil Festival Every year, Lakes participates in the Pierce C ...

Lakewood, Washington Lakewood is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 63,612 at the 2020 census. It is the second-largest city in the county, behind Tacoma, and is a suburban bedroom community. Lakewood is adjacent to Joint Base ...

Career

By the age of 20, Cray had seen his heroes

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

Freddie King Freddie King (born Fred Christian; September 3, 1934December 28, 1976), also billed as Freddy King, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King a ...

and

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. In the late 1970s he lived in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with

Curtis Salgado Curtis Salgado (born February 4, 1954, in Everett, Washington, United States) is a Portland, Oregon-based blues, blues rock, and blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter. He plays harmonica and fronts his own band as lead vocalist. Career Salgado ...

in the Cray-Hawks. In the 1978 film ''

National Lampoon's Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, and ...

'', Cray was the uncredited bassist in the house party band

Otis Day and the Knights Otis Day and the Knights was a fictional R&B band shown performing in the 1978 movie ''National Lampoon's Animal House''. Following the success of the film the actor portraying the group's lead singer acquired the rights to the name and created ...

1980s

Cray released the album '' Who's Been Talkin''' on

Tomato Records The Tomato Music Co. Ltd., also known as Tomato Records, is an American indie music, independent record label founded in New York City in 1977 by music manager Kevin Eggers. It was a successor to his previous record labels Utopia and Poppy, the la ...

in 1980. Two albums on HighTone Records in the mid-1980s, '' Bad Influence'' and ''

False Accusations ''False Accusations'' is the third studio album by the Robert Cray Band, released 1985. In the same year, Cray won the Blues Music Award, W.C. Handy Award for best male artist of 1985. Critical reception ''The Boston Globe'' listed the album am ...

'', were moderately successful in the United States and in Europe, where he was building a reputation as a live artist. In 1985, he released the album ''

Showdown! ''Showdown!'' is a collaborative blues album by guitarists Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland, released in 1985 through Alligator Records. The album is mostly original material, with cover versions of songs like T-Bone Walker's "T- ...

'' with his hero Albert Collins and

Johnny Copeland John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, ...

. Cray was signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

and in 1986 released his fourth album, ''

Strong Persuader ''Strong Persuader'' is the fourth studio album by American blues singer and guitarist Robert Cray. It was recorded by Cray at the Los Angeles studios Sage & Sound and Haywood's with producers Bruce Bromberg and Dennis Walker, before being rele ...

'', produced by Dennis Walker, which received a

, while the crossover single "

Smoking Gun The term "smoking gun" is a reference to an object or fact that serves as conclusive evidence of a crime or similar act, just short of being caught ''in flagrante delicto''. "Smoking gun" refers to the strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, ...

" gave him wider appeal and name recognition. Under the pseudonym "Night Train Clemons", he recorded with

Ted Hawkins Ted Hawkins (October 28, 1936 – January 1, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter born in Biloxi, Mississippi. He split his time between his adopted hometown of Venice Beach, California, where he was a mostly anonymous street performer, ...

in 1986. He was invited by

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

to join the backing band for

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

in the 1987 film, ''Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll'', directed by

Taylor Hackford Taylor Edwin Hackford (born December 31, 1944) is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for '' Teenage Father'' (1979). Hackford went on to dire ...

. In 1987,

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

invited Cray to be part of her ''

Break Every Rule ''Break Every Rule'' is the sixth solo studio album by Tina Turner. It was released on September 8, 1986, through Capitol Records. It was the follow-up to Turner's globally successful comeback album, ''Private Dancer'', released two years earlie ...

'' television special. By the late 1980s, Cray was an opening act for such major stars as

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

and sold out larger venues as a solo artist. Cray has generally played Fender guitars (

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

s and

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 Corporati ...

s) and there are two signature Robert Cray Stratocasters models available from Fender. The Robert Cray Custom Shop Stratocaster is made in the U.S. in the Fender custom shop and is identical to the guitars that Cray currently plays, while the Robert Cray Standard Stratocaster is a less-expensive model made in Fender's

Ensenada Ensenada ("inlet") is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja Californ ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

plant.

1990s

Cray had the opportunity to play alongside

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

on his album ''Boom Boom'', playing the guitar solo in the song "Same Old Blues Again". He is also featured on the Hooker album, '' The Healer''; he plays a guitar solo on the song "Baby Lee". The entire Robert Cray Band backs Hooker on the title track of his 1992 album '' Mr. Lucky'', where Cray plays lead guitar, sings, and banters with Hooker throughout the song. The band also appears on two songs on

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...

's 1993 duet album '' Blues Summit'': the duet between King and Cray, which was written by Cray and Dennis Walker specifically for the project and called "Playin' With My Friends", and the duet between King and John Lee Hooker ("

You Shook Me "You Shook Me" is a 1962 blues song recorded by Chicago blues artist Muddy Waters. Willie Dixon wrote the lyrics and Earl Hooker provided the instrumental backing; the song features Waters' vocal in unison with Hooker's slide-guitar melody. "Y ...

"). In August 1990, Cray played with Eric Clapton,

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a founding member of The Fabulous Thunder ...

, and

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

at the

Alpine Valley Music Theatre Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 30,000-capacity amphitheater located on County Highway D in East Troy, Wisconsin. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat pavilion and a sprawling lawn. It was ...

East Troy, Wisconsin East Troy is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,673 at the 2020 census. The village is located southwest of the Town of East Troy. A small portion extends into the adjacent Town of Troy. As of 2020, th ...

, performing "

Sweet Home Chicago "Sweet Home Chicago" is a blues standard first recorded by Robert Johnson in 1936. While often credited to Johnson, the song has precedents in several earlier blues songs. It has become a popular anthem for the city of Chicago, despite ambiguity ...

". This was Stevie Ray Vaughan's final performance before he died in a helicopter accident later that night. Cray was invited to play at the "Guitar Legends" concerts in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain at the 1992

Expo An expo is a trade exposition. It may also refer to: Events and venues * World's fair, a large international public exposition * Singapore Expo, convention and exposition venue ** Expo Axis, one of the world's largest membrane roofs, construc ...

, where he played a signature track, "Phone Booth".

was also on the bill on this blues night of the "Legends" gigs.

2000–present

In 2005, Cray was inducted into Hollywood's RockWalk at

Guitar Center Guitar Center, Inc. is an American musical instrument retailer chain headquartered in Westlake Village, California. It operates 304 locations and is the largest company of its kind in the United States. The company oversees several subsidia ...

. Cray continues to record and tour. He appeared at the

Crossroads Guitar Festival The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variet ...

, and supported Eric Clapton on his 2006-2007 world tour. In 2011, Cray was inducted to the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum operated by the Blues Foundation at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to b ...

and received the Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance in 2017. After controversy with Eric Clapton about lyrics of the song "

Stand and Deliver ''Stand and Deliver'' is a 1988 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Ramón Menéndez, written by Menéndez and Tom Musca. It is based on the true story of Garfield High School mathematics teacher, Jaime Escalante, who inspir ...

" by

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

, Cray canceled his participation in Clapton's 2022 Europe tour.

Robert Cray Band

Current Members: *Robert Cray – lead/rhythm guitar, vocals *Richard Cousins – bass guitar *

George Sluppick George Peter Sluppick (born January 14, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American touring and session drummer, best known for his association with bands such as The City Champs, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Sha Na Na, JJ Grey & Mofro and t ...

– drums *Dover Weinberg – keyboards Past Members: *Peter Boe – keyboards * Al Chez – trumpet *Terence F. Clark – drums *Les Falconer – drums *Kevin Hayes – drums (1989–2008) * Wayne Jackson – trumpet *Tim Kaihatsu – rhythm guitar * Andrew Love – saxophone *

Ed Manion Ed Manion (born February 28, 1952), also known as Eddie "Kingfish" Manion, is an American saxophonist, who plays both tenor and baritone sax. As a solo artist, he released his own instrumental album titled Nightlife in 2015. Manion is a recording ...

– saxophone *Rocky Manzanares – harp *Tom Murphy – drums *David Olson – drums *

Mark Pender Mark "The Loveman" Pender (born August 21, 1957, in Kansas City, Missouri) is a trumpet player and vocalist who has played with Southside Johnny, Little Steven and Bruce Springsteen. Since 1993 he has performed on '' Late Night with Conan O' ...

– trumpet *Jimmy Pugh – keyboards *Warren Rand – alto saxophone *

– harp *Karl Sevareid – bass *David Stewart – keyboards *Mike Vannice – saxophone

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Who's Been Talkin''' (1980) * '' Bad Influence'' (1983) * ''

'' (1985) * ''

'' (1986) * '' Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'' (1988) * '' Midnight Stroll'' (1990) * '' I Was Warned'' (1992) * ''

Shame + A Sin Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, ...

'' (1993) * '' Some Rainy Morning'' (1995) * ''

Sweet Potato Pie Sweet potato pie is a traditional dessert, originating in the Southern United States. It is often served during the American holiday season, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas in place of pumpkin pie, which is more traditional in other regi ...

'' (1997) * ''

Take Your Shoes Off ''Take Your Shoes Off'' is a blues album by Robert Cray, winning the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. It was released on April 27, 1999, through the Rykodisc label. The album won a Grammy A ...

'' (1999) * '' Shoulda Been Home'' (2001) * '' Time Will Tell'' (2003) * ''

Twenty 20 (twenty) is the natural number following 19 and preceding 21. A group of twenty units is sometimes referred to as a score. In mathematics Twenty is a composite number. It is also the smallest primitive abundant number. The Happy Family o ...

'' (2005) * '' This Time'' (2009) * '' Nothin but Love'' (2012) * '' In My Soul'' (2014) * '' Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm'' (2017) * '' That's What I Heard'' (2020)

References

External links

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cray, Robert 1953 births Living people Contemporary blues musicians Electric blues musicians Soul-blues musicians American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) Grammy Award winners Musicians from Columbus, Georgia Musicians from Eugene, Oregon Songwriters from Oregon Singers from Oregon Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Guitarists from Oregon 20th-century American guitarists Mercury Records artists Vanguard Records artists African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers African-American male songwriters Provogue Records artists African-American history of Oregon