In 1969, shortly after Ray returned to the United States from a European tour with Judy Garland, an American doctor informed him that he was well enough to drink an occasional glass of wine. He instead resumed drinking heavily, and his health began to decline. Despite this, in the early 1970s he appeared several times on prime-time network television in the United States. After the offers for television stopped, he continued touring, attracting major media attention outside the United States, until he gave his final concert, a benefit for the Grand Theater in Salem, Oregon on October 6, 1989. Ray performed for many years after the "National Enquirer" began investigating and reporting celebrity substance abuse, but it made no mention of him during his lifetime.