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Russell's first commercial success as a songwriter came when Joe Cocker recorded the song "Delta Lady" for his 1969 album, Joe Cocker! The album, produced and arranged by Russell, reached #11 on the Billboard 200. Russell went on to organize and perform in the tour supporting Cocker's album, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. "Superstar", co-written by Russell, Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett, was sung by Rita Coolidge on that tour and later proved a success for The Carpenters, Luther Vandross, Sonic Youth and other performers. Soon after the Mad Dogs and Englishmen Tour, Shelter Records released his 1970 solo album Leon Russell, which included the first recording of "A Song for You". This has become one of his best-known songs, with versions released by more than 40 different artists including Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Willie Nelson, Helen Reddy, Whitney Houston, Elkie Brooks, Amy Winehouse, Donny Hathaway, and Christina Aguilera. Both The Carpenters and The Temptations named an album after the song. Also in 1970, Russell played piano on Dave Mason's album, Alone Together,[12] most notably on the song "Sad and Deep as You". During the 1960s and '70s, Russell owned the Church Recording Studio on 3rd Street in Tulsa. Russell still records there frequently, while his former home on Grand Lake, in northeast Oklahoma, still contains the dining room table and chairs made from church pews from his Church Studio. On the property stands a private recording studio that has hosted many musicians, including members of The Beatles. During the summer of 1971, at the invitation of George Harrison, Russell played piano on Badfinger's third album, Straight Up. The piano part complemented Pete Ham and George Harrison's dual slide guitars on Badfinger's "Day After Day". The Straight Up sessions were interrupted when many of the musicians left for New York City to participate in the Concert For Bangladesh, at which Russell performed a medley of the songs "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Young Blood" and sang a verse on Harrison's "Beware of Darkness."[8] Russell (on bass guitar) and Harrison (on electric guitar and vocals) also played on a number of Bob Dylan's hits. A busy year for Russell, 1971 also brought the Shelter release of Leon Russell And The Shelter People and Asylum Choir II (which was co-produced by Marc Benno). That same year, Russell played on recording sessions with B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Bob Dylan. Russell helped blues guitarist Freddie King to revive his career by collaborating with him on three of his albums for Shelter during the early 1970s. 1972 was highlighted by a large-scale concert tour by Russell and his "Shelter People" entourage. A live performance was recorded in California at the Long Beach Arena on August 28, 1972, and was released as the Leon Live album. In November 1972, Billboard cited Russell as a top concert draw and reported the '72 tour gross at almost $3 million. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_russell A. Ray Smith (May 1, 1915 - June 28, 1999 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA) was a long-time baseball executive, best known for his ownership of the minor-league Tulsa Oilers franchise, which he later moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where the team set minor league attendance records. His daughter, Emily Smith Miller-Mundy (1943-2013), was a prominent figure in the Tulsa Sound music scene, and the inspiration for Leon Russell's song "Sweet Emily". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._Ray_Smith