James Ray I've Got My Mind Set On You

James Jay Raymond was born in Washington D.C. in 1941 and started his recording career as Little Jimmy Ray. His early recorded efforts failed to hit the charts, but by 1961 he teamed up with his friend Rudy Clark. Clark’s songs, on Ray’s voice, called the attention of Caprice Records executive Gerry Granahan, who signed Ray for the label. He would soon enter the charts thanks to Clark’s “If You Gotta Make a Fool Of Somebody”, which was recorded with Hutch Davie’s orchestral arrangements. It would not be his only hit, as follow ups “Itty Bitty Pieces” and “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You” also reached the top of the charts. Nowadays “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You” has probably become James Ray’s most famous number thanks to the cover launched by George Harrison as a single from his 1987 “comeback” LP Cloud Nine, which he took to the top of the charts again with the help of two different videoclips to promote it. Sadly, Ray would not live to see this revamped success, he died too soon in 1963.