Claude Gray

Claude Gray, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist who stood six feet five inches tall, carried the nickname "the Tall Texan." Across nearly six decades in the business he tallied multiple chart entries and ranked among country music’s leading figures. His first performances took place while he was still in high school in his hometown of Henderson, Texas. After Navy service from 1950 to 1954, he spent most of the rest of that decade working in sales.

Gray made his recording debut in 1959, following stints as a radio announcer in Kilgore, Texas, and a disc jockey in Meridian, Mississippi. The initial single, "I'm Not Supposed," came out on Pappy Daily’s D Records. In 1960 he reached the country Top Ten for the first time with "Family Bible." The next year brought "I'll Just Have a Cup of Coffee (Then I'll Go)," which climbed to the country Top Five and crossed over modestly onto the pop charts; its successor, "My Ears Should Burn (When Fools Are Talked About)," rose to the Top Three.

Over the following two years Gray placed four more singles on the charts, yet none—including "Daddy Stopped In"—advanced beyond the Top 20. Together with Walt Breeland he wrote "The Ballad of Jimmy Hoffa," but Mercury refused to release it; the track eventually appeared on Smokey Stover’s Ol’ Podner label and was sold directly to the Teamsters. From the mid-1960s into the early 1970s Gray’s releases appeared regularly, most registering only medium-level success, though "I Never Had the One I Wanted" and "How Fast Them Trucks Can Go" both reached the Top 20.

When his Mercury contract expired in 1972 he moved to Million Records and scored a minor hit in 1973 with "Woman Ease My Mind." Chart appearances grew infrequent after that, until 1986 when his version of Neil Diamond’s "Sweet Caroline" returned him to the listings. Gray kept performing live well into the 2010s; his career ended with his death on April 28, 2023, at age 91 in Skokie, Illinois.