mel-lawrence's Profile

I am a 70 year old male. I started out playing gospel music in pentecostal churches all over the San Jaquin valley in California in 1957. In 1964 I switched to country music and spent almost fifty years as a band leader and bass guitar player. I have worked with over thirty recording artist. I played music six nights a week in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Baltimore Maryland, Washington DC, and I did 60 shows entertaining troops in viet nam in 1968. I had my own record label, Memory Records. I still have my own publishing company, country memories music. I recorded an album of country music that i wrote in 82. I had three singles off of it. Four female singers have recorded songs I wrote and they are Annette Funicello, Brandy Massey, Lorrie Malone and Kathy King. I had my own radio shows in 68 in Colorado springs and in 72 in Washington DC. In the mid nineties I quit singing full time and just did special shows. I even sang in 2009 four shows at Buck Owens Crystal Palace here in Bakersfield. Bakersfield is where i started my country music career. I knew all of the stars that came from here. For health reasons I have retired but I still enjoy singing. I still do some shows but not as many. When I played music all over he country I played under the name of Mel Ray. I have been back in Bakersfield since 78. So over fifty year i have entertained audiences with my music.
Here's a list of some of the stars i have worked with and played music with. Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Red Simpson, Wynn Stewart, Tommy Collins, Bonnie Owens Haggard, Hank Thompson, Joe and Rosalie Maphis, Wanda Jackson, Rose Maddox, Johnny Rodriguez, Patsy Montana, Johnny Western, Bobby Austin, Sheb Wooley, Bill Haley's Comets, Billy Mize, Wade Jackson and others you would not know. Some of them I have known but not worked with are Annette Funicello, Conway Twitty, Marty Robbins, Willie Nelson, Connie Smith, B J Thomas, Roy Acuff, Stonewall Jackson. I have had a fantastic career in music. I have been blessed