One of country music’s biggest names suffered a heart attack on Friday.
Ray Stevens, the Country Music Hall of Fame member, was admitted to a Nashville-area hospital on Friday after complaints of chest pain. A heart catheterization surgery determined he’d suffered a mild heart attack.
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The Grammy-winning singer underwent minimally invasive heart surgery yesterday morning and is now in recovery.
All of the singer’s scheduled performances at his CabaRay Showroom in West Nashville are canceled through at least the month of July while he recovers.
Stevens is known for his Grammy-winning hit songs like “Misty” and “Everything is Beautiful,” as well as other chart-topping hits like “Gitarzan” and “The Streak.”
He got his start at the age of 18 when he signed to Capitol Records in 1957, with the Billboard hit “Silver Bracelet.” He then left the label and moved to writing songs for Barnaby Records and Warner Bros. in the 1970s.
He is best known for “Everything is Beautiful,” a #1 hit and Grammy-winning single that was also the theme song for The Ray Stevens Show, a slapstick-style comedy series he hosted that aired in the ’70s as a summer replacement for The Andy Williams Show. It is certified gold by the RIAA.
After the success of that single, Stevens mostly leaned into comedic and novelty songs, like his #1 hit “The Streak” about taking all your clothes off in public, his 1979 hit “I Need Your Help Barry Manilow,” or his September 11th-inspired parody ballad “Osama—Yo Mama.”
Along with his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, he is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and the Christian Music Hall of Fame.
He was married to his wife Penny for 60 years until her death on New Year’s Eve 2021 after a battle with cancer. He has two daughters and four grandchildren.
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