Raymond W. Downs is an American author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 as well as a former country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer.

Ray was most notably known for his appearances on the syndicated Porter Wagoner

Porter Wagoner

Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and...

 television show. Downs also played for a couple of years with Country Music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 legend Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins

Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

 opening shows on the road. At Marty's death Ray recorded a tribute song "Greatest Cowboy Of All" under the name Jason Williams. The tune charted at #26 on the Country Billboard Charts

Billboard charts

The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...

 Hot C/W sides.

He is the youngest of three children born to James Orville Downs and Anne Marie Zink on October 24, 1944 in Abington, Pennsylvania

Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 55,310 in as of the 2010 census.Abington Township is one of Montgomery County's oldest communities dating back to before 1700 and being incorporated in 1704. It is home to some of the county's...

. As an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 Ray has written three novels and literally hundreds of short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

. At thirteen years of age Ray's family moved from Pitman, New Jersey

Pitman, New Jersey

Pitman is a Borough in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the borough population was 9,331.-Geography:Pitman is located at ....

 to Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. He grew up in Broward County Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, primarily Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood, Florida

-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...

 and Ft. Lauderdale. Musically Ray has recorded ten albums as well as a single on the "GREAT SOUTHERN" label. He is listed at BMI.

Downs also recorded six albums under the name Ray Stark — most notably, Country Music, A White Man's Blues with fellow artist Jack Dawkins for Alliance Records, a European label. He also released the album The Celebration of Love which was a European and Asian release on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

. Ray also recorded several albums for Acropolis Records which were produced by Michael Richter (Sleeping With The Music), world renowned Pianist/Composer/Record Producer. Among them, This Old Photograph an album primarily made up from tunes that were written by Ray or Michael and many written by Ray and Michael together. Another was The Best of Ray Stark an Acropolis Records compilation album of Ray's recordings throughout the years. During the 60's Ray was a regular on The Mid-South Jamboree in Memphis, TN. He appeared on The Rhodes Show a weekly television show featuring the Rhodes Family, Dusty, Donna and Sandy, also from Memphis, TN. In 2008 Ray signed on with author Brian Snelson to do voice overs in the up-coming animated motion picture Shaturanga. Ray Downs is married to Theresa Sue Adams of Crestview, Florida

Crestview, Florida

Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....

. Ray and Theresa Sue currently live in rural South Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

  where he now spends his days writing short stories and novels.

East Meets West

• "Let Me Into Your Room"
• "If It Wasn't For The Money"
• "He Finally Made Up Her Mind"
• "World Without Music"
• "Somewhere In Between"
• "Who Are You Foolin Now"
• "Old Same Song"
• "If I Could Write A Song"
• "I'm Comin' Home"
• "Honky Tonk Woman"

Country Music, A White Mans Blues

by Stark & Dawkins

• "Country Music, A White Mans Blues"
• "White Oak"
• "Let It Be Me"
• "Scarlet Ribbons"
• "Ginny Come Lately"
• "Sounds Of Silence"
  The Sound of Silence
  "The Sound of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. An initial version preferred by the band was remixed and sweetened, and has become...
  
  
• "If I Could Write A Song"
• "Morning Dew
  Morning Dew
  "Morning Dew", also known as " Morning Dew", is a post-apocalyptic folk-rock song written by Canadian singer Bonnie Dobson in 1962.According to Dobson in a 1993 interview, "Morning Dew" was inspired by the film On the Beach....
  
  "
• "She's Not Lisa" ( I'm Not Lisa
  I'm Not Lisa
  "I'm Not Lisa" is a country music song written and recorded by American country artist Jessi Colter. It was released as a single on January 16, 1975 by Capitol Records. "I'm Not Lisa" would become Colter's first major hit as a solo artist.-Content:...
  
   )
• "Prodigal Son"
• "I Wonder If I Care As Much"
• "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
  I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
  "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard...
  
  "

Writer

Ray Downs is a novelist with three novels and hundreds of short stories to his credit, many about Mexico where he spent several years teaching English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 as a second language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

 and Creative Writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

 at the University of Monterrey (UDEM) in Monterrey, Mexico. Downs has written three novels, Wind Across The Amazon, One More Mission and most recently The Grove.