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Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country music and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as novelty hits including "Gitarzan" and "The Streak". Stevens has earned gold albums and has worked as a producer, music arranger, and television host. He was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
While attending high school, Stevens formed his first band, a rhythm and blues group named The Barons. He began studying business administration at Georgia State College in Atlanta, but quickly switched his major to music. He left after completing three of the four years required to obtain a degree, which he felt he did not need.
According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, "In between the record's 1957 recording and its release, his name was changed to 'Ray Stevens' at the insistence of country A&R chief Ken Nelson of Capitol Records, who said 'Ray Ragsdale' didn't 'pop.'"
Based in Nashville since 1962, Stevens also worked as a multi-instrumental session musician and songwriter. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, "Stevens became a favorite of maestro Chet Atkins. He sang with the Jordanaires; played trumpet for an Elvis Presley session; wrote songs for Brook Benton, Skeeter Davis, and Dolly Parton; and contributed to Waylon Jennings's classic 'Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line.'"
While Stevens was best known for comedy, he occasionally recorded straightforward pop songs as well. The most successful of these in the 1960s was "Mr. Businessman," which went to #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.
Stevens had a transatlantic chart-topping hit in 1974 with "The Streak", a novelty song about streaking which reached number one on the American and British singles charts. The following year, he scored another hit with a unique arrangement of Erroll Garner's jazz-pop standard "Misty," which went to #3 on the country chart and #14 on the Hot 100.
Through the late 1970s and early 1980s, with some exceptions (such as "Shriner's Convention" in 1981), Stevens focused mostly on serious material, as he felt that the novelty song was becoming less popular in the era. However, in 1977 he released a cover version of Glenn Miller's big-band standard "In the Mood" in which the vocals sounded like chickens clucking, credited to The Henhouse Five Plus Too. (1997). 9780879304751, Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780879304751 Stevens also had an adult contemporary crossover hit in 1979 with "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow", a cut from Stevens' Barry Manilow tribute/parody album The Feeling's Not Right Again.
RAY-ality TV ended its digital TV run in January 2014. In March, a webisode series, also titled Rayality TV was launched. Later in 2014, Stevens co-starred in the movie Campin' Buddies. He published an autobiographical memoir, Ray Stevens' Nashville, in 2014.
In 2015, Stevens began producing and hosting Ray Stevens Nashville, a 30-minute weekly music variety show on cable TV. The show was rebranded as Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville and is filmed on stage at his own CabaRay Showroom, which opened to the public in early 2018. The album Here We Go Again came out on March 24, 2015. It includes the Taylor Swift spoof single "Taylor Swift is Stalking Me"Billboard, March 24, 2015 – Ray Stevens Returns With 'Taylor Swift Is Stalkin' Me' – By Chuck Dauphin and "Come to the USA".
Penny died December 31, 2021, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Two days prior, Stevens had canceled his New Year's Eve concert at CabaRay due to his wife's rapidly declining health.
Stevens was hospitalized after complaining of chest pains on July 4, 2025. He was eventually determined to have suffered a "mild" heart attack, and he was placed in intensive care. He successfully underwent heart surgery on July 7 and left intensive care on July 9.
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