ABOUT ELISABETH GRAY
Elisabeth was born in New York and is the daughter of the well-known American singer Betty Johnson, with whom she has shared stages across the United States from a very young age. In 1990, after graduating cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in Literature, she came to Spain and spent two years with the pop group "El Mecánico de Swing." She left pop music to form a jazz duo with the great Maestro Rafael Ibarbia from RTVE.
Elisabeth has performed as a guest artist at the National Auditorium with the symphonic band of the Spanish Air Force and at the international festival in Almansa, under the direction of Martín Baeza. She has been a singer with the Chattanooga Big Band, one of Spain's most prestigious orchestras, for 30 years. In addition to her solo career, Elisabeth collaborates on albums as a backup singer and lends her voice to television ads for clients such as Baileys, Kia, Amena, Zanussi, Renault, Grupo Santander, La Razón, the DGT, La Caixa, Orange, and others. She has worked on TV shows as a backup singer (Qué Apostamos, El Gran Concurso del Siglo, Miss and Mr. España, Cántame) and provided all the female vocals for songs used in Telecinco's Desafío Bajo Cero and dozens of songs for Baby TV. She sings on the soundtracks of films like Donkey Xote by Filmax, La Máquina de Bailar by Santiago Segura, and Los Rodriguez y El Más Allá by Paco Arango.
In the field of English dubbing, Elisabeth voices children, girls, and women of all ages for animated series, films, language courses (Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Anaya, Santillana, Macmillan, and Edelvives), and advertisements for clients like Melía Hotels, Ikea, Movistar, etc. As a narrator, her voice can be heard in documentaries, short films, news broadcasts, radio commercials, and public announcements for El Corte Inglés and Iberia. As a voice actress, she has worked with Fernando Trueba on They Shot the Piano Player and with Alejandro Amenábar on La Fortuna. She voices Turuleca in the movie Turu, the Wacky Hen and Maura in Deep. She also voices characters in video games, including Spacelords and Deadlight.
She is also a lyricist in both English and Spanish. Elisabeth has worked as a vocal coach, helping singers perform in English for the musical show Michael Jackson’s Forever King of Pop. As a music producer, she has produced four albums: Villancicos Chillout (by Robin Studio), In My Eyes, Three Shades of Gray, and Four Shades of Gray.
FAMILY MUSICAL HISTORY
JOHNSON FAMILY SINGERS
Elisabeth Gray is a descendent of the renowned American performers The Johnson Family Singers of Charlotte, NC – popular from the late 1930s to the early fifties thanks to their daily radio show of almost ten years on WBT and appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. The Johnson Family Singers performed across the south, recorded 52 songs for Columbia Records and a similar number of songs on the RCA-Victor label. In 1958 they reunited for two appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show.
BETTY JOHNSON
Betty Johnson’s solo career took off after winning the star-making top tv show, Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. She was originally signed by Columbia Records and made some recordings before signing with Bell Records in 1954. In the same year she signed with Csida-Grean, a management company that produced many of her subsequent recordings.
In 1955, she signed with RCA Victor, which sent her to Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, Ms. Johnson worked on the syndicated television series, Eddy Arnold Time, backed by a group who had worked with her family on the Grand Ole Opry, The Jordanaires. That group later became well known as a backing group for Elvis Presley. While in Chicago, she was a regular on Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club beginning in 1955, which led to a contract with a small record company, Bally Records. After one not-so-notable recording for Bally, she reached number 9 on the Billboard charts with her biggest hit, “I Dreamed”, in 1956. She continued to appear on The Breakfast Club until 1957.
Ms. Johnson then was hired by Jack Paar for his television show, Tonight. This led to a record contract with Atlantic Records in 1957, for which she had her next big hit, “Little Blue Man”. Johnson continued on Tonight until 1962 when Paar was replaced by Johnny Carson, while also making appearances on a number of other television shows and headlining at The Persian Room and The Blue Angel in New York and the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles as well as other top venues of the time.
In 1964 she married Arthur Gray, an investment banker in New York City. She had two daughters, Lydia (born 1966) and Elisabeth(born 1968). From then until 1993 she mostly stayed out of show business, going to college – attending some classes at Dartmouth College beginning in 1977, but ultimately getting her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1981.
In 1984 and 1985 Johnson appeared as Essie Miller in the Goodspeed Opera House’s revival of TAKE ME ALONG! In 1993, she returned to show business, appearing at the Algonquin Hotel in New York and subsequently starting her own record label, Bliss Tavern Music, for which she continues to make recordings. Her recent projects include Four Shades of Gray; a collaboration with her daughters Lydia Gray, Elisabeth Gray and granddaughter Betty Gray and the restoration and remastering from LP’s of The Take Five Sessions Betty recorded in NYC with the Lou Garisto Quartet in the late 1950’s through early 1960’s. Ms.Johnson’s entire digital music catalog, including Four Shades of Gray, as well as her 2007 autobiography “In Her Own Words” is available on her website, Apple Music, Spotify,YouTube Music, and Amazon Music
CONTACT & BOOKING
Elisabeth Gray is available to perform at events, receptions, weddings, and other live venues as well as any other voice-over needs you may need.