16 Facts About Dobie Gray

Dobie Gray's hit songs included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away".

Dobie Gray was a member of the cast of "Hair" at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood, CA from 1968 to 1969.

Dobie Gray's birth name was most likely Lawrence Darrow Brown, listed in Fort Bend County birth records as being born in 1940 to Jane and Jethro C Brown.

Dobie Gray discovered gospel music through his grandfather, a Baptist minister.

Dobie Gray recorded for several local labels under the names Leonard Ainsworth, Larry Curtis, and Larry Dennis, before Sonny Bono directed him toward the small independent Stripe Records.

Dobie Gray continued to record, albeit with little success, for small labels such as Charger and White Whale, as well as contributing to movie soundtracks.

Dobie Gray spent several years working as an actor, including two and a half years in the Los Angeles production of Hair.

Dobie Gray increasingly concentrated on songwriting, writing songs for a variety of artists including Ray Charles, George Jones, Johnny Mathis, Charley Pride, and Don Williams.

Dobie Gray toured in Europe, Australia and Africa in the 1970s.

Dobie Gray performed in South Africa only after persuading the apartheid authorities to allow him to play to integrated audiences, becoming the first artist to do so.

Dobie Gray was featured on two selections: "Everything To Me" and Walter Carter's "Last Train to Glory".

Dobie Gray re-emerged as a recording artist for Capitol Records in the mid-1980s, recording with producer Harold Shedd.

Dobie Gray sang on a number of TV and radio jingles.

Dobie Gray sang the song "Paradise Road", which appeared in the 1988 film Blind Justice, starring Christopher Cazenove, Patrick Shai, Oliver Reed and Edita Brychta.

Dobie Gray died on December 6,2011, of complications from cancer surgery in Nashville, Tennessee, aged 71.

Dobie Gray's remains were buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park And Mausoleum in Nashville.