Ray Agee

Known primarily for his difficult 1963 remake from the blues regular “Tin Skillet Alley” (offering the moaning lead acoustic guitar of Johnny Heartsman) for the tiny Sahara logo design, vocalist Ray Agee documented for an array of labeling both huge and small through the 1950s and ’60s without very much in the form of nationwide recognition outdoors his LA home base. That is clearly a pity — he was an excellent, versatile blues vocalist whose work should get a wider target audience (not forgetting Compact disc reissue). The Alabama indigenous was stricken with polio at age group four, departing Agee having a long term handicap. After shifting to L.A. along with his family members, he apprenticed along with his brothers inside a gospel quartet before stunning out in the R&B field having a 1952 solitary for Eddie Mesner’s Aladdin Information (supported by saxist Maxwell Davis’ music group). Following that, his discography assumes daunting proportions; he made an appearance on too many logos to list (Elko, Spark, Ebb, and Money included in this). Ray Agee gradually slipped from the music business in the first ’70s. Apparently, he passed away around 1990.