Ray Price (musician) 1940s-1950s success What happened in the early 1940s? After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian. What success did Ray have? He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954 First artist out of who? his band, the Drifting Cowboys, Did he release an album? I don't know. What were some of those hits? "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". How did those do?? I don't know. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, Why did he do that? I don't know. What happened following that? rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band,
How did he do as manager?
How did Ray Prince do as manager?
After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian. For one thing he was considered too small to work with large cattle and horses, the backbone of a Texas veterinarian's practice. While helping around his father's ranch he also began singing at various functions around the Abilene, Texas area. This eventually led him to begin singing on the radio program Hillbilly Circus broadcast on Abilene's KRBC in 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree on Dallas radio station KRLD-AM in 1949, and when the show was picked up for broadcast on the CBS radio network soon afterward Price had his first taste of national exposure. It was around this time Ray Price became friends with Lefty Frizzell. The two first met at Beck Recording Studio in Dallas, and Price ended up writing the song "Give Me More, More, More Of Your Kisses" for Frizzell's use. A few demos recorded by Price at Beck's caught the attention of Bullet Records in Nashville, Tennessee and he was signed to his first recording contract. However, his first single released on Bullet, "Jealous Lies" failed to become a chart hit. He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were; Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Pete Wade, Jan Kurtis, Shorty Lavender and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song "Night Life". Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me". He later developed the famous "Ray Price Shuffle," a 4/4 arrangement of honky tonk music with a walking bassline, which can be heard on "Crazy Arms" (1956) and many of his other recordings from the late 1950s. CANNOTANSWER
and had minor success.
Noble Ray Price (January 12, 1926 – December 16, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone is regarded as among the best male voices of country music, and his innovations, such as propelling the country beat from 2/4 to 4/4, known as the "Ray Price beat", helped make country music more popular. 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. He continued to record and tour into his 80s.

Early life
Ray Price was born on a farm near the small former community of Peach, near Perryville, Wood County, Texas. He was the son of Walter Clifton Price and Clara Mae Bradley Cimini. His grandfather, James M. M. Price, was an early settler in the area. Price was three years old when his parents divorced and his mother moved to Dallas, Texas. For the rest of his childhood he split time between Dallas and on the family farm, where his father had remained. Price's mother and step-father were successful fashion designers and wanted him to take up that line of work but it had little appeal to him.

Price began singing and playing guitar as a teenager but at first chose a career in veterinary medicine. He was attending North Texas Agricultural College in preparation for that career when his studies were interrupted by America's entry into World War II. Price was drafted in 1944 and served in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater. He returned to the college after the war and, in 1972, was honored as a distinguished alumnus.

Music career

1940s–1950s success

After the war and college, Price rethought his decision to continue schooling to be a veterinarian; he was considered too small to work with large cattle and horses, the backbone of a Texas veterinarian's practice. While helping around his father's ranch he also began singing at various functions around the Abilene, Texas, area. This eventually led him to begin singing on the radio program Hillbilly Circus broadcast on Abilene's KRBC in 1948. He joined the Big D Jamboree on Dallas radio station KRLD (AM) in 1949, and when the show was picked up for broadcast on the CBS radio network soon afterward Price had his first taste of national exposure. It was around this time Ray Price became friends with Lefty Frizzell. The two first met at Beck Recording Studio in Dallas, and Price ended up writing the song "Give Me More, More, More Of Your Kisses" for Frizzell's use. A few demos recorded by Price at Beck's caught the attention of Bullet Records in Nashville, Tennessee, and he was signed to his first recording contract. However, his first single released on Bullet, "Jealous Lies", failed to become a chart hit.

He relocated to Nashville in the early 1950s, rooming for a brief time with Hank Williams. When Williams died, Price managed his band, the Drifting Cowboys, and had minor success. He was the first artist to have a success with the song "Release Me" (1954), a top five popular music hit for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967. In 1953, Price formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys. Among its members during the late 1950s and early 1960s were Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Darrell McCall, Van Howard, Johnny Paycheck, Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, and Buddy Spicher. Miller wrote one of Ray Price's classics in 1958, "Invitation to the Blues", and sang harmony on the recording. Additionally, Nelson composed the Ray Price song, "Night Life". Price became one of the stalwarts of 1950s honky tonk music, with hit songs such as "Talk To Your Heart" (1952) and "Release Me".

1960–2000s: Nashville sound to gospel

During the 1960s, Ray experimented increasingly with the so-called Nashville sound, singing slow ballads and utilizing lush arrangements of strings and backing singers. Examples include his 1967 rendition of "Danny Boy", and "For the Good Times" in 1970, which was Price's first country music chart No. 1 hit since "The Same Old Me"  by Kris Kristofferson, the song also scored No. 11 on the popular music chart and featured a mellower Price backed by sophisticated musical sounds, quite in contrast to the honky tonk sounds Price had pioneered two decades before. Price had three more No. 1 country music successes during the 1970s: "I Won't Mention It Again", "She's Got To Be A Saint", and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" (the last of which was a pop hit in Canada, and would gain greater fame a year later when Gladys Knight & the Pips covered it).

Price's final top ten hit was "Diamonds In The Stars" in early 1982. Price continued to have songs on the country music chart through 1989. Later, he sang gospel music and recorded such songs as "Amazing Grace", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Farther Along" and "Rock of Ages". Price briefly made national news again in 1999 when he was arrested for possession of marijuana. According to Price in a 2008 interview, old friend Willie Nelson — no stranger to marijuana arrests — phoned and told him he had just earned $5 million in free publicity with the drug bust.

In 2009, he made two performances for the Fox News show Huckabee. The first was with the Cherokee Cowboys and host Mike Huckabee, and he performed "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches By The Number". Weeks later he performed with the Cherokee Cowboys and Willie Nelson (again with Huckabee playing bass guitar). This time they performed duets of "Faded Love" and "Crazy". Price worked on his last album, Last of the Breed, with fellow country music singers Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. This album was released on March 20, 2007, by the company Lost Highway Records. The two-disc set features 20 country classics as well as a pair of new compositions. The trio toured the U.S. from March 9 until March 25 starting in Arizona and finishing in Illinois. This was Price's third album with Nelson and first album with Haggard. After the tour, Haggard remarked, "I told Willie when it was over, 'That old man gave us a goddamn singing lesson.' He really did. He just sang so good. He sat there with the mic against his chest. And me and Willie are all over the microphone trying to find it, and he found it."

Cancer and death
On November 6, 2012, Price confirmed that he was fighting pancreatic cancer. Price 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. Said Price, "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." He told the newspaper, "The doctor said that every man will get cancer if he lives to be old enough. I don't know why I got it – I ain't old!"

Although in February 2013 the cancer appeared to be in remission, Price was hospitalized in May 2013 with severe dehydration. 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. Price died at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, on December 16, 2013, aged 87. Price was interred at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas.

Personal life

After leaving Nashville, Price lived his time off the road on his east Texas ranch near Mount Pleasant, continuing to dabble in gamefowl, cattle and horses. Ray Price married twice. He and his first wife divorced in the late 1960s. Price married second wife Janie on June 11, 1970, and they remained together until his death. A son from his first marriage, Cliff Price, also survives.

Discography

Industry awards
Academy of Country Music
 1970 Album of the Year – For The Good Times
 1970 Single of the Year – "For The Good Times"

Country Music Association
 1971 Album of the Year – I Won't Mention It Again

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
 Inducted in 1996

Grammy Awards
 1971 Best Male Country Vocal Performance – "For The Good Times"
 2008 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals with Willie Nelson – "Lost Highway"

See also
 Country Music Association
 Academy of Country Music
 Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame (1996 Inductee)

References

External links

The "Ray Price Shuffle" with audio examples
at the Country Music Hall of Fame
Allmusic Ray Price with Biography, Discography, Charts

1926 births
2013 deaths
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American acoustic guitarists
American country guitarists
American country singer-songwriters
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Columbia Records artists
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
Deaths from cancer in Texas
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Dot Records artists
Gold Star Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grand Ole Opry members
Guitarists from Tennessee
Guitarists from Texas
Monument Records artists
Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Musicians from Dallas
People from Cherokee County, Texas
People from Mount Pleasant, Texas
People from Wood County, Texas
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee
Step One Records artists
Traditional pop music singers
University of Texas at Arlington alumni
Word Records artists
Drifting Cowboys members
Abner E. "Abby" Singer (December 8, 1917 – March 13, 2014) was an American production manager and assistant director in film between the 1950s and the 1980s. His name has become famous in Hollywood as a phrase describing the second-to-last shot of the day as the "Abby Singer".

According to Burt Bluestein of the Directors Guild of America, "It all began when Abby was a 1st AD and people on the crew would ask him how many shots were left to do before lunch. Abby would answer, 'We'll do this and one more.' At the end of the day, when they asked what was to be done before the wrap, Abby would say, 'This and one more, then we're out of here.'" Abby Singer himself explains the reason behind calling out the second to last shot; "In television, we would make maybe five or six moves during the day — going from one set to another, or from one stage to another. Or we'd move from the back lot to a stage. I would say, 'Fellas, we'll do this [shot] and one more and then we're moving.' This would give the crew a chance to begin wrapping up their equipment or to call transportation for gurneys, so they'd be ready to get out quickly... I did it really to save time for the director. If we did it during the day, I could save 10 to 15 minutes each time we had to move. I could give the director another hour a day of shooting."

The last shot of the production day is referred to as a "Martini Shot," referring to the alcoholic beverage.

Abby Singer died of cancer on March 13, 2014 in California at the age of 96.

Selected filmography

As assistant director
 Death of a Salesman (1951) (Second AD)
 Income Tax Sappy (1954) (as Abner Singer)
 Shot in the Frontier (1954) (as Abner E. Singer)
 7th Cavalry (1956) (as Abner E. Singer)
 The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957) (as Abner E. Singer)
 M Squad (1957) TV Series (assistant director)
 Hellcats of the Navy (1957) (assistant director)
 The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957) (assistant director)
 7th Cavalry (1956) (assistant director)
 He Laughed Last (1956) (assistant director)
 Over-Exposed (1956) (assistant director)
 A Lawless Street (1955) [a.k.a. Marshal of Medicine Bend (USA)] (assistant director)
 Gypped in the Penthouse (1955) (assistant director)
 Cannibal Attack (1954) (assistant director)
 Shot in the Frontier (1954) (assistant director)
 Massacre Canyon (1954) (assistant director)
 Income Tax Sappy (1954) (assistant director)

As production manager
 Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective (1989) (TV) (unit production manager)
 Columbo: Murder, Smoke and Shadows (1989) (TV) (unit production manager)
 Columbo: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine (1989) (TV) (unit production manager)
 Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) (unit production manager)
 Remington Steele TV series
 "Signed, Steeled & Delivered" TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Your Steele the One for Me" TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Sting of Steele" (1983) TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Steele's Gold" (1983) TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Vintage Steele" (1983) TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Steele in the News" (1983) TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 "Steele Among the Living" (1983) TV Episode (executive in charge of production)
 The Bob Newhart Show (production manager)
 WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982) (executive in charge of production)
 Hill Street Blues (1981–1987) (executive in charge of production)
 St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) (executive in charge of production)
 A Little Sex (1982) (production manager: Los Angeles)
 First, You Cry (1978) (TV) (supervising production manager)
 Something for Joey (1977) (TV) (production manager)
 The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1974–1976) (unit production manager 1974–1975; production manager 1975–1976)
 "Rhoda" (1974) TV Series (unit production manager)
  (1968) (TV) (unit manager)
 The Doris Day Show (1968) TV Series (production manager)
 The Meanest Men in the West (1967) (TV) (unit production manager)
 Out of Sight (1966) (unit production manager)
 Gunsmoke'' (1955) TV Series (production manager)

References

External links

 
 Abby Singer
 Abby Singer
 Abby Singer movie (Abby Singer the Movie, named after Singer)
 AbbySinger.net
 

American television producers
American television directors
1917 births
2014 deaths The Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS) is a test used by doctors to determine how severely migraines affect a patient's life.  Patients are asked questions about the frequency and duration of their headaches, as well as how often these headaches limited their ability to participate in activities at work, at school, or at home.

The test was evaluated by the professional journal Neurology in 2001; it was found to be both reliable and valid.

Questions
The MIDAS contains the following questions:

 On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss work or school because of your headaches?
 How many days in the last 3 months was your productivity at work or school reduced by half or more because of your headaches?  (Do not include days you counted in question 1 where you missed work or school.)
 On how many days in the last 3 months did you not do household work because of your headaches?
 How many days in the last three months was your productivity in household work reduced by half of more because of your headaches?  (Do not include days you counted in question 3 where you did not do household work.)
 On how many days in the last 3 months did you miss family, social or leisure activities because of your headaches?

The patient's score consists of the total of these five questions. Additionally, there is a section for patients to share with their doctors:

What your Physician will need to know about your headache:

A. On how many days in the last 3 months did you have a headache?
(If a headache lasted more than 1 day, count each day.)	

B. On a scale of 0 - 10, on average how painful were these headaches? 
(where 0 = no pain at all and 10 = pain as bad as it can be.)

Scoring
Once scored, the test gives the patient an idea of how debilitating his/her migraines are based on this scale:

0 to 5, MIDAS Grade I, Little or no disability 

6 to 10, MIDAS Grade II, Mild disability

11 to 20, MIDAS Grade III, Moderate disability

21+, MIDAS Grade IV, Severe disability

References

External links
Migraine Treatment

Migraine