| In the country
music business, multi-talented Ray Kennedy did it all. He was
the master of several instruments, wrote and arranged songs,
and was a producer and a recording engineer.
He was born in New York to Ray
Kennedy, Sr., the National Vice President for Sears and the
man behind the Discover credit card. His father's work kept
young Kennedy and his family on the move.
As a teen, his parents refused
to get him a guitar, so Kennedy built his own. He briefly attended
college where he majored in business, but at that time he found
himself drawn to music and dropped out to play in midwestern
clubs.He spent some
time in Oregon and in 1980 moved to Nashville where he built
his own studio and learned engineering when he began recording
his own demos. He got his start as an engineer and was responsible
for producing most of Tree Publishing's Pop demos during that
time.
Pop singer Stevie Nicks recorded
one of his songs, "Battle of the Dragon," and Kennedy became
a staff writer at Tree where his tunes were occasionally recorded
by John Anderson, Charley Pride, David Allan Coe and others.
Because his songs weren't selling
well enough to suit him, Kennedy decided to become a recording
artist and cover them himself. In 1990, he signed to Atlantic
Records and debuted with What a Way to Go.
Kennedy not only produced the
album in his own studio, he also played all of the instruments
but the dobro, steel guitar and Wessenborn. He also penned or
co-penned all of the songs on it.
Kennedy made his single debut
with the album's title track, which peaked on the Top Ten with
the album making it to the Top 60. He released two more singles
from the album, but they only became minor hits.
In 1991, he produced and engineered
an album for songwriter Don Henry, Wild in the Backyard. In
1992, Kennedy teamed up with producer/- songwriter Monty Powell
and made Guitar Man. |
