Country Music Musician. Fondly known as "The Cherokee Cowboy," his wide-ranging baritone voice was regarded by many as among the best male voices in country music. Born Noble Ray Price, he enlisted with the US Marine Corps during World War II and served from 1944 to 1946. After he was discharged from the Marines, he began singing for radio station KRBC in Abilene, Texas in 1948 and a year later he joined the "Big D Jamboree," a radio program broadcast by KRLD-AM in Dallas, Texas. In the early 1950s, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to embark on a country music career, and lived briefly with the legendary Hank Williams. After Williams' death in 1953, he managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, with some success. In 1953 he formed his own band, The Cherokee Cowboys, which included at various times noted country music performers Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck, and others. In 1954 he successfully recorded the tune "Release Me," which became a top five pop hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bass line, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956), his first number 1 country hit, and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s. By 1960, he went on to record three more number 1 country hits with "My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You" (1957), "City Lights" (1958), and "The Same Old Me" (1959). In the 1960s and 1970s he transitioned to the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers, including the Kris Kristofferson song "For The Good Times" (1970, for which he won the 1970 Academy of Country Music Single of the Year), which became his fifth number 1 country hit. The song crossed over into the pop world, reaching number eleven. He followed this with three more number 1 country hits, with "I Won't Mention It Again" (1971), "She's Got To Be a Saint" (1972), and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" (1973). His last number 1 country hit was "Diamonds in the Stars" (1982). That same year, he collaborated with Willie Nelson and Roger Miller to record the single "Old Friends" that reached number 19 on the country chart. His last album was "Last of the Breed" (2007), a 2-disc feature set with Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. During his career, he recorded over 60 albums with different studios, with one reaching Platinum ("For The Good Times" (1970, for which he won the 1970 Academy of Country Music Album of the Year)) and two becoming Gold ("All Time Greatest Hits" (1972) and "San Antonio Rose" (1980, with Willie Nelson)). His other music industry awards include Country Music Association's 1971 Album of the Year with "I Won't Mention It Again," a 1971 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in "For The Good Times," and a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (with Willie Nelson) in "Lost Highway." He continued to have songs on the country music charts through 1989 and recorded and toured into his late 80s. In November 2012 he confirmed that he had pancreatic cancer and was receiving chemotherapy treatments. In December 2013 he became hospitalized due the final stages of his cancer and was released for home hospice care, where he died at the age of 87. In 1996 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.