Ray Sharpe

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title: "Ray Sharpe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1938-births", "living-people", "african-american-guitarists", "american-country-singer-songwriters", "african-american-male-singer-songwriters", "american-male-singer-songwriters", "american-rhythm-and-blues-singers", "american-rhythm-and-blues-guitarists", "american-male-guitarists", "american-rockabilly-musicians", "jamie-records-artists", "dot-records-artists", "musicians-from-fort-worth,-texas", "singer-songwriters-from-texas", "guitarists-from-texas", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "21st-century-american-guitarists", "country-musicians-from-texas", "20th-century-african-american-male-singers", "20th-century-american-male-singers", "20th-century-american-singers"] description: "American singer-songwriter" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Sharpe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American singer-songwriter ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

Field	Value
name	Ray Sharpe
background	solo_singer
birth_name	Edward Ray Sharpe
birth_date
birth_place	Fort Worth, Texas, United States
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	{{Flatlist
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years_active	1956–present
::

| name = Ray Sharpe | image =

| caption = | image_size = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Edward Ray Sharpe | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place =Fort Worth, Texas, United States | death_date = | origin = | instrument = Vocals, guitar | genre = {{Flatlist|

• Rockabilly
• rock and roll
• rhythm and blues | occupation = Musician, songwriter | years_active = 1956–present | label = | website = | current_members = | past_members = Edward Ray Sharpe (born February 8, 1938) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. His best-known single was "Linda Lu". Sharpe was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever".

Background

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Sharpe grew up influenced by country as well as blues music. He learned guitar, influenced by Chuck Berry records, and in 1956 formed his own trio, Ray Sharpe and the Blues Whalers, with Raydell Reese (piano) and Cornelius Bell (drums), and they became popular playing rock and roll in Fort Worth clubs. His recording career started in Phoenix, Arizona in April 1958, when Lee Hazlewood produced his single, "That's the Way I Feel" / "Oh, My Baby's Gone".

"Linda Lu"

His second record, "Linda Lu"{{cite book | first= Gérard | last= Herzhaft | year= 1997 | title= Encyclopedia of the blues | edition= 2nd | publisher= University of Arkansas Press | location= Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States | isbn= 1-55728-452-0 | page= 286 | url-access= registration | url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz/page/286

Later work

Subsequent single releases on a variety of record labels, including Hazlewood's own Trey label, were less successful. These included recordings made in 1966 with King Curtis, which featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. However, Sharpe's songs have been recorded by acts ranging from Roy Head and the Traits to Neil Young and J. B. Hutto, and he has continued to release records, as well as performing regularly in the Fort Worth area.

References

References

1. [http://www.bsnpubs.com/dot/dotstoryb.html Mike Callahan and David Edwards, ''The Dot Records Story, Part 2'', Bsnpubs.com]
2. [http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/ray_sharpe.htm Dik de Heer, "Ray Sharpe", ''Black Cat Rockabilly'']. Retrieved October 6, 2014
3. Whitburn, Joel. (2013). "Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012". Record Research.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::