Ray Dorset

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Ray Dorset

Ray Dorset (born Raymond Edward Dorset, March 21, 1946, in Ashford, Middlesex) is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter and founder of the skiffle band, Mungo Jerry.

In 1968 he formed the group Good Earth, which also included Colin Earl on keyboards, Dave Hutchins on bass, and Ray Bowerman on drums. They recorded the album It's Hard Rock And All That on the Saga record label, before Hutchins and Bowerman left. Joe Rush joined on washboard and the group adopted a more acoustic-based skiffle style. In 1970 with further line-up changes the group became Mungo Jerry.

Dorset has also maintained a solo career parallel to his leadership of Mungo Jerry. In 1972 he released an album Cold Blue Excursion, made up entirely of self-penned songs, many featuring strings and brass accompaniment; in 1983 he was part of one-off blues outfit Katmandu with Peter Green and Vincent Crane, who recorded an album A Case For The Blues; and in 1986, billed as "Made in England", he recorded and released the theme tune for the TV drama series Prospects as a single.

One song recorded by Mungo Jerry, "Feels Like I'm In Love", was originally written by Dorset for Elvis Presley, but he died before it could be presented to him. Nevertheless, in 1979 it was recorded by disco singer Kelly Marie, and became a UK Number one in September 1980. It thus made Dorset one of the first songwriters to top the UK Singles Chart with singles performed by himself, and by another artiste.

In addition to guitar he has played several other instruments on stage and record, including harmonica, kazoo, accordion and keyboards.

Dorset is currently residing in Bielefeld, in the north west of Germany.