On Sunday 24 January 2021, Gene Watson celebrated Ray Stevens' 82nd birthday.

'Happy Birthday to the amazing Ray Stevens.



His career shows he can do it all, from his work as a producer, to being one of our greatest country music legends.

He's got too many huge hits to name them all, but this one was a big country radio hit, 'Misty', which was written by Erroll Louis Garner (Wednesday 15 June 1921 - Sunday 2 January 1977) and John Francis Burke (3 October 1908 - Tuesday 25 February 1964)'



In 1975, Ray Stevens received his second Grammy Award.  It was in the 'Best Arrangement' category for the remake of the Erroll Gardner / Johnny Burke classic, 'Misty', which was written by Erroll Louis Garner (Wednesday 15 June 1921 - Sunday 2 January 1977) and John Francis Burke (3 October 1908 - Tuesday 25 February 1964).

One day, while in the studio, while rehearsing his band for an upcoming television appearance, they started clowning around with 'Misty' using a banjo, fiddle and steel guitar.  The track sounded good; so good that Ray Stevens called his engineer to come down to the studio and the arrangement was recorded.



'Misty', which was included on Ray Stevens' 'Misty' (Barnaby Records, 1974), was one of Ray's last hit singles for Barnaby Records, and reached the following chart positions in 1975:

• Austrian Top 40 Chart: No.11
• Australian Singles Chart: No.5
• Canadian RPM Hot Country Singles Chart: No.2
• Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart: No.15
• Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Chart: No.6
• Euro Hit 50 Chart: No.9
• Irish Singles Chart: No.2
• New Zealand Singles Chart: No.11
• South African Singles Chart: No.5
• United Kingdom Singles Chart: No.2
• Billboard country music singles chart: No.3
• Billboard Hot 100 pop music singles chart: No.14
• Billboard Easy Listening Chart: No.8

Barnaby Records was a record label which was owned by singer Andy Williams (Saturday 3 December 1927 - Tuesday 25 September 2012).



Gene Watson's Peers within the country music industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' - and rightly so!

All of Gene Watson's Peers, who were contacted during 2011, were most gracious with their time and words.

On Wednesday 21 September 2011, Ray Stevens graciously submitted a 'Peer's Quote' about Gene Watson.





In 2016, Gene Watson was a special guest on 'Ray Stevens’ Nashville', which was broadcast on RFD-TV in the United States.

Source
• Gene Watson on Facebook