ABSTRACT
Through the s, Ray had few hits, and his touring year shrank from nine to six
months or less. His hair turned totally gray and his face became ever more creased and
craggy. Yet in this decade Ray also staged an extraordinary comeback, and by its end,
he had emerged from his lean years and become one of the electric media’s most reso-
nant icons, an artist known and loved for so long by so many that he seemed to pre-
side over all of pop music as its wise grandpapa.
