Ray Price was born 95 years old today.
Price’s wide ranging baritone was often praised as among the best male voices of country music. He was also a songwriter and guitarist.
Some of his well-known recordings include "Release Me," "Crazy Arms," "Heartaches by the Number," "For the Good Times," "Night Life" and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me."
He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, and continued to record and tour well into his mid-eighties.
On November 6, 2012, Price confirmed that he was fighting pancreatic cancer. He told the San Antonio Express-News that he had been receiving chemotherapy for the past six months.
An alternative to the chemo would have been surgery that involved removing the pancreas along with portions of the stomach and liver, which would have meant a long recovery and stay in a nursing home. "That's not very much an option for me. God knows I want to live as long as I can, but I don't want to live like that," said Price.
On December 2, 2013, Price entered a Tyler, Texas, hospital in the final stages of pancreatic cancer, according to his son, then left on December 12 for home hospice care. He died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, on December 16.