Dobie Gray Dies At 71

Gray

DOBIE GRAY, who hit the upper reaches of the pop charts with "The In Crowd" and "Drift Away," died TUESDAY (12/7) of undisclosed causes at 71.

GRAY, born in TEXAS, released the original version of "The In Crowd," written by BILLY PAGE, in 1965, peaking at number 13 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (an instrumental version by RAMSEY LEWIS climbed to number 5.  After almost a decade of recording and acting, GRAY again had a hit with "Drift Away," written by MENTOR WILLIAMS and hitting number 5 on the chart in 1973.  He had one more top 40 solo hit, "You Can Do It," in 1976, and had minor success on the Country chart in the '80s.

In 2003, GRAY appeared on UNCLE KRACKER's hit cover of "Drift Away," reaching number 9 on the Hot 100 and topping the Adult Contemporary chart.

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