| Summary: | Dancer Fay Ray was born on October 11, 1919 in Louisiana. At age eleven, Ray left home and boarded a train to Shreveport, Louisiana to join the Vaudeville circuit. She learned to tap dance, and at age sixteen, left the circuit to go solo. In 1943, she moved to New York, where she danced in chorus lines at Caf Zanzibar, the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater, performing with Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and others. During World War II, Ray moved to Providence, Rhode Island, becoming a certified welder at Walch Kaiser, and danced on the first USO tour. At age fifty, Ray retired from dancing, spending two years welding on the Alaskan Pipe Line. In 1985, she joined the Silver Belles, a senior dance group of former Harlem chorus girls who were featured in the 2006 documentary, Been Rich All My Life. Ray passed away on September 14, 2013, at age 93.
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