Francisco Gomez (born January 8, 1987), known professionally as Frank Ray, is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer. Signed to

BBR Music Group BBR Music Group (formerly Broken Bow Records) is an American record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in July 1999 by Benny Brown, the label specializes in country music. The label's executive vice president is Jon Loba. Craig Morgan ...

, he has released the single "Country'd Look Good on You".

Biography

Francisco Gomez is a native of Deming, New Mexico. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and he lived with his mother in Laredo and

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. He then moved to

Columbus, New Mexico Columbus is a village in Luna County, New Mexico, United States, about north of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. It is considered a place of historical interest, as the scene of Battle of Columbus (1916), a 1916 attack by Mexico, ...

with his father. It was through his moving that he began listening to not only

, but also ''

ranchera Ranchera () or canción ranchera is a genre of traditional music of Mexico. It dates to before the years of the Mexican Revolution. Rancheras today are played in virtually all regional Mexican music styles. Drawing on rural traditional folk music ...

'' music. As he is of Hispanic descent, he thought that he would "stand out" as a country musician, citing other Hispanic artists such as

Freddy Fender Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best ...

as inspiration on this front. From 2007 to 2017, Gomez worked as a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...

. After having success with performances on weekends and gaining regional commercial success with songs on the Texas country charts, he retired from the police force and began singing full-time. He released an EP titled ''Different Kind of Country'' in 2018 under his performing name of Frank Ray. In addition, he became an opening act for Ashley McBryde. In 2021, Ray signed with

and released his debut single "Streetlights". The song features Ray singing in both English and Spanish. Ray was contacted by BBR staff after one of them discovered a previous song of his, "Tequila Mockingbird", on a

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

playlist. Later in the year he issued another single, "Country'd Look Good on You". This was followed in January 2022 by his first performance on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

. The same month, "Country'd Look Good on You" entered the top 40 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

charts.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Frank American male singers American country singers BBR Music Group artists Living people People from Luna County, New Mexico 1987 births