Findings and Website update
It’s been a while since the previous post (~6 months), but i did and found few things that i can share.
First, i worked several times on the lyrics transcription, thanks to Whisper AI for the most complicated songs, and it’s almost done (see songs page).
In the same time i was seeking for some informations in availables databases (Ancestry, records of NYC, death indexes, obituaries, …), and i can tell that it’s really complicated to obtain informations about people who leaved in the pre-computer/web era. I didn’t found anything valuable, even with Ancestry… .
Here is a list of websites used for the research:
- NYC Department of Records - Historical Vital Records
- Health Data NY State - Death Index
- New York City Death Indexes
- Ancestry
- NYS Historic Newspaper
- PhillyHistory.org
- Congress Album Discography
Next, i purchased several vinyls as i was hoping to find some clues on it, and one of them (James Ray - Itty Bitty, Charly Records) is interesting as it includes a James Ray musical biography. For example, we can learn that a song called “It’ll Never Be Over For Me” was released on August 21st 1970, nearly seven years after James Ray death, but remains lost.
A reference on the Wikipedia page lead me to obtain a copy of the magazine Blues and Rythm No 351, and i finally found the most interesting and complete article about James Ray life by Mike Fenton, with an interview of Gerry Granahan (Caprice Records - producer). I will continue my research based on the inputs from this article. This one is available here: James Ray - “THE LOST SOUL MAN”.
I will conclude with last things done on the website:
- Biography page now includes all James Ray biographies found over the web and from Blues and Rythm.
- whereisjamesray repo was forked on jamesraymusic.github.io (for domain name purpose).
- The domain name whereisjamesray.net can be used (instead of remidebord.github.io/whereisjamesray or jamesraymusic.github.io).
Rémi.