Eddy Raven

Eddy Raven


BORN: August 19 in Lafayette, Louisiana

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Gallatin, Tennessee

EARLIEST AMBITION: To play centerfield for the Boston Red Sox

FAVORITES: Song:“House of the Rising Sun”; Pastimes: Baseball and “hanging around the farm”; Colors: Black, blues, red and green; Foods: Cajun, seafood gumbo and fajitas; Artists: Bob Luman, Rick Nelson and Elvis

FIRST PAYING MUSICAL JOB: Singing for $10 a night in a Florida nightclub

CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS: (1) Top 10 singles include “Sooner Or Later”, “Island”, “She’s Playing Hard To Forget”, “I Could Use Another You”, “She’s Gonna Win Your Heart”, “Operator, Operator”, “I Wanna Hear It From You”, “You Should Have Been Gone By Now”, “Sometimes A Lady”, “Right Hand Man”, “You’re Never Too Old For Young Love”, “I Should’ve Called”, “Who Do You Know In California’, “A Little Bit Crazy”.; (2) Number one singles include “Bayou Boys”, “I Got Mexico”, “Shine, Shine, Shine”, “I’m Gonna Get You”, “Joe Knows How To Live”, “‘Til You Cry”, “In A Letter To You”.

SONGWRITING CREDITS: Eddy, who has won over 30 ASCAP songwriting awards, has written numerous hits for other country artists, including “Country Green” by Don Gibson, “Good Morning Country Rain” by Jeannie C. Riley. “Back In The Country” by Roy Acuff and the number one “Thank God For Kids” by the Oak Ridge Boys.

TELEVISION CREDITS: “The Pat Sajak Show” (CBS), “Academy of Country Music Awards” (NBC), “Showbiz Today” (CNN), and the following Nashville Network programs: “Nashville Now”, “Country Kitchen”, “Celebrity Outdoors”, “New Country”, “On Stage”, “Backstage Live At The Grand Ole Opry” and “Music City Tonight.”

CAREER HIGH POINTS: “Too many to cite but earning my first number one record with ‘I’ve Got Mexico’ still stands out.”

ADVICE FOR OTHERS SEEKING A CAREER IN MUSIC: “If you’re serious about this business, don’t expect to make money at it - get into it because you love it. If you don’t love it enough to get a day job to support your music habit, then you’re going to have a problem.”

Eddy Raven's kind of music is rich in lyrical imagery and strong in the artist’s musical roots. He has been writing and playing a mixture of rock, country, Cajun and blues since he was a Louisiana teenager. In fact, his first single release, for the Georgia-based Cosmos label, was one of his own compositions, “Once A Fool.” He started working at Lafayette’s La Louisiane, selling records and working in the facility’s sound studios, gaining a huge amount of all-around knowledge. It was there that Raven first worked with the great regional stars such as Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Dale and Grace (“I’m Leaving It All Up To You”) and John Fred and the Playboy Band. The great Bobby Charles (“Walking To New Orleans” and “See You Later Alligator”) lived only a few miles away, and cut one of Eddy’s songs, becoming something of a songwriter mentor to the young writer/artist.

La Louisiane added Eddy to its roster and released “That Cajun Country Sound”, which promoted Opry star Jimmy C. Newman to invite Raven to Nashville. Acuff­Rose signed the young man as a staff writer and he went back to Louisiana determined to write a hit song. That he did. He wrote “Country Green” and “Touch The Morning" for Don Gibson, and “Good Morning Country Rain” for Jeannie C. Riley. With the encouragement of Acuff-Rose’s Don Gant, the writer made the move to Nashville to pursue his music career full-time.