25. Collin Raye

Floyd Elliot Wray (born in August 1960) already had a good start in knowing what the music business was like when he was just a child. His mother, Lois Wray, was a local musician around Arkansas but in the 1950’s she had also been an opening act for Sun Records artists (including Country Music Hall Of Fame inductees Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley). When Lois started doing her own performances as a solo musician, she would sometimes bring Floyd and his brother Scott on stage to sing harmony for her. By the 1980’s, Floyd and Scott started their own country-rock group called the Wray Brothers Band. They signed with Mercury Records, but after four failed singles they were dropped and disbanded. After considering leaving music altogether, Floyd stuck it out. He changed his name to Collin Raye and signed with Epic Records. He got his first number one song in 1991 with “Love Me”, which has gone on to become a classic played at an endless number of weddings. Between 1991 and 2000, Collin released five albums (4 of which went platinum) and 27 singles (of which only six missed the top ten). Collin’s got the hits, the awards and the sales. He unfortunately doesn’t have the name recognition that other artist of the 1990’s have, so it’ll be a long time before he’s even considered.