Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter. His first hit was “The ‘In’ Crowd” in 1965. He then (among other activities) spent several years working as an actor, including two and a half years in the Los Angeles production of the musical “Hair”. In 1973, the song “Drift Away” (written and produced by Mentor Williams became his second and biggest success, peaking at #5 on the US pop chart and selling more than 1 mio. copies. “Drift Away” became a hit again in 2003, when it’s cover-version by Uncle Kracker, performed as a duet with Dobie, peaked at #9.