ABSTRACT
I started thinking about [who I was as a musician and establishing my own sound] in 1950 or
‘51. But I was scared to try. I could get a lot of work sounding like Nat (King) Cole. I woke up
one morning and I started to thinking, nobody knows my name. Everybody said to me, “Hey
kid, hey kid, you sound just like Nat Cole, hey kid.” It was always “Hey kid.” Nobody never
said “Ray,” never, never, never. So I started telling myself: “Your Momma always told you to
be yourself. And you got to be yourself if you’re going to make it in this business. I know you
love Nat Cole. But you got to stop that.”
