Edward Garvin Futch (born August 19, 1944), known professionally as Eddy Raven, is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since 1962, Raven has recorded for several record labels, including ABC, Dimension, Elektra, RCA, Universal, and Capitol Records. After multiple albums which yielded few hit songs, his greatest commercial success came between 1984 and 1990, during which time Raven achieved six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. These were "I Got Mexico", "Shine, Shine, Shine", "I'm Gonna Get You", "Joe Knows How to Live", "In a Letter to You", and "Bayou Boys". Raven has a total of eighteen top-ten hits on that chart. Although his chart success diminished in the 1990s, Raven continued to record throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century. In addition to his own work, he has written singles for Don Gibson, Randy Cornor, Jeannie C. Riley, Connie Smith, and The Oak Ridge Boys among others. Raven's music is defined by mainstream country, country pop, Cajun music, and reggae, and he wrote a large number of his singles by himself or with Frank J. Myers. Biography Edward Garvin Futch was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, on August 19, 1944. He is the oldest of ten children, and his father worked as a truck driver. Futch had originally considered a professional career in baseball, but chose not to after breaking his ankle. Growing up, he cited Cajun music as a musical influence, along with the country music sounds from popular radio broadcasts such as the Louisiana Hayride, New Orleans blues, and the new sounds of rock and roll. Futch first played in a band at age thirteen. He later went to work for a radio station in Georgia when his family moved there, and in 1962 he self-released the single "Once a Fool". The single was credited to "Eddy Raven" due to a printing error, but he chose to keep that as his stage name. When his family moved back to Louisiana, Raven worked at a recording studio called La Louisianne Records and its outlet The Music Mart, where he recorded and released his first album, That Cajun Country Sound. Musical career Beginnings Raven's first record was heard by fellow Cajun country musician Jimmy C. Newman, who helped him sign a publishing contract with Acuff-Rose Music. Both Newman and Raven's father then encouraged him to move to Nashville, Tennessee. There, he wrote singles for