Trivia / Ray Stevens

• Acting for Two:
  • In the "Help Me Make It Through the Night" music video, Stevens plays all of the characters.
  • Stevens plays a police officer and Willard in "It's Me Again, Margaret".
  • He voices the roles of the title character, along with his wife and pet monkey, in "Gitarzan".
  • In "Bridget the Midget" he sings in his normal voice but also voices Bridget (whose voice is just his pitched up), the Loony Fan (his voice pitched down) and probably Strawberry & The Shortcakes (via overdubs).
  • "The Streak" features Stevens as the news reporter and Ethel's husband.
  • In "Moonlight Special", he voices parodies of Wolfman Jack, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Alice Cooper, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
• Approval of God: Barry Manilow reportedly loved Stevens' parody of him in "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow".
• Black Sheep Hit: Although he was more known for his novelty songs, his biggest hit was the sensitive, Gospel Music-tinged pop ballad "Everything Is Beautiful".
• Chart Displacement: Many of his better-known songs weren't very successful on the country music charts. Most notably, "Everything Is Beautiful" only got to #39 on the country charts despite topping the Hot 100 and AC charts. Similarly, famous songs of hits that didn't do as well on Hot Country Songs include "Turn Your Radio On" (#17), "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" (#20), "It's Me Again Margaret" (#74), and "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" (#41). "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" didn't fare as well on either chart, only reaching #85 on the Hot 100 and #49 on the country charts.
• Follow-Up Failure: Both of his #1 hits on the Hot 100 were followed by duds. "Everything Is Beautiful" was succeeded by two more serious songs ("America, Communicate with Me" and "Sunset Strip") which both bombed, as did the novelty "Bridget the Midget"^note Though it became a big hit in England and a string of gospel songs. He stopped charting entirely for a time, but then came back with "The Streak"... whose followup, "The Moonlight Special", stalled at #73.
• He Also Did:
  • Besides being a recording artist he's also had a long run on the Nashville music scene, working as a producer, arranger, session musician, and owner of a recording studio. He produced some of Dolly Parton's earliest work, and played trumpet (!) on a couple songs for Elvis Presley.
  • Although he's known mainly as a pianist and vocalist, some fans may be to surprised that he actually played guitar on a few of his own songs, most notably "Gitarzan".
• Hitless Hit Album: I Have Returned managed to go gold (in an era where that was rare for a country album) despite its best single only reaching #45. Crackin' Up! was also a hot seller despite not producing a top 40 hit, either.
• Missing Episode: A 2000 album titled Ear Candy was apparently never released, but most of its songs appeared on Osama— Yo' Mama: The Album one year later. A later album, Thank You!, is listed as having a 2004 release on his website, but it does not appear to have been released either.
• One-Hit Wonder: Obviously not Ray himself, but he released a cover of "In the Mood" done entirely in chicken clucks which was credited to the "Henhouse Five Plus Too". This enterprise did not release anything else.
• Playing Against Type: While Stevens is best known as a novelty artist, he has shown he can be a fine balladeer and quite a fine singer of both mainstream contemporary pop and gospel. A prime example was the 1975 album Misty, which was covers of ballads from the 1920s to late 1950s, of which the title track was a top 5 country and adult contemporary smash and top 15 pop hit. "Everything is Beautiful," from 1970, was a plea of tolerance and unity, while he has also covered many gospel and contemporary Christian songs through the years.
• Production Posse: Since The '80s, many of his songs have been written or co-written by C. W. Kalb Jr., who also cameos in many of the videos. Most of the backing vocals also tend to be Ray himself and session vocalist Lisa Silver.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: His 1960 single "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" was withdrawn through fear of a lawsuit from the rights holders of the TV show Challenge of the Yukon.

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