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The great soul singer Dobie Gray has sadly died at the age of 71. A cause of death has not yet been released. Gray is best known for hits such as “The ‘In’ Crowd”, “Out on the Floor” and his biggest success “Drift Away.”

Dobie Gray was born Lawrence Darrow Brown in Simonton, Texas, on July 26, 1940. He moved to California in the early 1960s and his musical break came when he met Sonny Bono, who was A&R manager for Specialty Records. After a minor hit with the single “Look At Me,” his real breakthrough was the classic “The ‘In’ Crowd” in 1965.

Dobie Gray – “The ‘In’ Crowd”

The singer began taking acting classes in this period, which led to appearances in a number of theatre productions, including two-and-a-half years in the L.A. production of the musical “Hair.”

Gray was also a talented songwriter and spent several years as a staff writer for Almo/Irving Publishing before landing a new recording contract with MCA Records in 1973. It was with MCA that he had his biggest and most enduring hit “Drift Away,” which peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dobie Gray – “Drift Away”

The follow-up single, “Loving Arms,” did less well, but found an appreciative audience in Elvis Presley who covered it for his “Good Times” album.

The next few years were spent recording for MCA, with moderate success, and honing his songwriting skills. His compositions would be recorded by many big name artists, including Ray Charles, George Jones, Nina Simone, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Johnny Mathis, Three Dog Night, John Denver and many more.

After a number of years away from the recording studio, Gray released two albums for Capitol in the mid-1980s, “From Where I Stand” and “Love’s Talkin’,” but neither were very successful. This led to a 10-year recording hiatus which ended with the release of “Diamond Cuts” in 1997. The album featured re-recordings, new compositions, and some well chosen covers, such as Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over.” His final original albums were “Soul Days,” which featured covers of classic soul and R&B songs, and a Christmas album, “Songs Of The Season.” Both were released in 2001.

Gray’s last big success came with a reworking of “Drift Away” with Uncle Kracker in 2003. This reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart for 28 weeks. Uncle Kracker has tweeted his response to Gray’s death:

In a 2010 interview with Essential Elvis magazine (Issue 68), Dobie Gray said: