Suzi Ragsdale Shares How Being Ray Stevens’ Daughter Affected Her Career
on Feb 19, 2016
Country singer and comedian Ray Stevens has a number of hit songs to his name, such as “The Streak” and “Everything is Beautiful.” Stevens passed his love of music on to his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale, who has been making records for 30 years without much recognition, until now.
Ragsdale recently released a new, two CD collection during an in-store party, which her father also attended. Stevens sang along with his daughter and also presented her with a large bouquet, saying “Your mom made me, or I wouldn’t have done it.”
Stevens had nothing but praise for his daughter’s new CD collection, though he still couldn’t keep himself from joking about the whole occasion.
“Maybe now you can start to earn a little money and you can take care of me and your mom in our old age!” Stevens said.
Being the daughter of someone as popular as Stevens, one would think that Ragsdale would have had an easy road to stardom. But as she revealed in an interview with The Boot, although her father’s knowledge of the music business was helpful to her, being his daughter actually slowed down her career:
“As far as growing up with him as dad, and falling in love with this business, he taught me a lot. But although it has been helpful and valuable to have that knowledge, it hasn’t opened doors with people wanting to give me a record deal. Everyone is supportive in Nashville and kind of like a family of songwriters. But I sometimes feel that if I’d come into town from Texas 15 years ago, I might have got more attention than I did being from Nashville and sitting here with my dad. However, I’m very grateful for the life I’ve had; the advantages and inside track have been great.”
Ragsdale’s music is slightly different from her father’s, with the first CD in her new collection taking on a jazzy, bluegrass sound and the second sounding more like a mix of pop and rock ‘n’ roll. The new collection has helped bring Ragsdale the success and recognition she has chased for so long.
“I’m charting on Americana radio, where I just debuted at 35 with just one week behind me,” Ragsdale said. “Looking forward to it climbing the charts and getting radio airplay is exciting. My 30 years of making records and wanting to be heard looks like it’s paying off now.“
We’re so glad that Ragsdale’s career is finally taking off, because she has too much talent to ignore. You can watch her perform “Everything is Beautiful” along with her father in the video below.
Congratulations to Ragsdale on her new CD collection!
