Ray Stevens

...talent for Mercury Records. He oversaw the careers of country singers like Miller, Ray Stevens and Lewis, as well as those of rhythm and blues acts like Clyde McPhatter, Brook Benton and, briefly, James Brown. In 1962, after hearing the...

In this article: Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy, Mercury Records, Jeannie C. Riley, Roger Miller, Elvis Presley, Sun Records, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash

...Dyke's "Walk on By," Stevens' "Ahab the Arab" and Joe Dowell's "Wooden Heart." He left Mercury in 1966 and created the Shelby Singleton Corporation in Nashville. After launching Plantation Records, he produced Riley's recording of "Harper...

In this article: Shelby Singleton, Mercury, Sun Records, Nashville, Jeannie C. Riley, Roger Miller, Charlie Rich, and Carl Perkins

...artists -- Ray Stevens, LeRoy Van Dyke and Joe Dowell. Earlier with Mercury Records "Smash" imprint, he snapped up Roger Miller, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patti Page and James Brown. He also bought Memphis' Sun Records, promoting the label's...

In this article: Nashville, Shelby Singleton, Cancer, Harper Valley PTA, Jeannie C. Riley, Patti Page, James Brown, and Roy Orbison

He also launched the careers of some of country music's most colorful artists of the '60s, including Miller, Stevens and Jerry Reed, after quickly rising at Mercury Records to head of artists and repertoire, the talent scouting and development...

In this article: Shelby Singleton, Jerry Kennedy, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sun Records, Jeannie C. Riley, Roger Miller, Johnny Cash, Acetate, and Sam Phillips

...More Last Chance." In 1982, after he had released a few more singles, notably the Top 40 "Written Down in My Heart," Stevens left RCA and returned to Mercury Records, the label that made him a star in the early 1960s. This resulted in only...

In this article: MCA, The Streak, Misty, Everything Is Beautiful, RCA, Grammy Award, US, and Clarkdale