ABSTRACT
Music was pervasive in the Davies household. The sisters played the piano, the dad the banjo, all sang and danced, and the gramophone constantly spun music from a wide spectrum of pop selected by family members representing a broad range of ages and tastes. As a result, Ray absorbed the jazzy pop of Judy Garland, Kay Starr, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole, the croonings of Bing Crosby and Perry Como, the booming voice of Ethel Merman and the operatic tenor of Mario Lanza, the light pop of the Andrew Sisters and Doris Day, the musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the sentimental and patriotic spirit of Vera Lynn, the emotional timbres of Johnnie Ray, the husband-wife team of vocalist Mary Ford and guitar wizard Les Paul, the big band sound of the Ted Heath Orchestra, trad by the Chris Barber Band, skiffle by Lonnie Donegan, and big band vocalist Al Bowlly, a favorite of Fred Davies. The family’s country favorites included Chet Atkins, Slim Whitman, Conway Twitty, and Hank Williams, who Davies said “was the first singer who struck a chord with me.”1
