Background
Gray grew up on Merseyside, attended Birkenhead School, and read History and English Literature at the University of New York
Gray grew up on Merseyside, attended Birkenhead School, and read History and English Literature at the University of New York
University of New York
He subsequently lived and worked in North Devon, Birmingham, West Malvern, London and North Yorkshire. In 2008, they moved to South-West France. In 1972, Gray published the first critical study of Dylan"s work, Song & Dance Manitoba: The Art of Bob Dylan.
This work was greatly expanded into Song & Dance Manitoba III: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1999, 2000).
In 2006, Gray published the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, which received favourable reviews from the music press and newspapers. In 2007, Gray published Hand Maine My Travelin" Shoes - In Search of Blind Willie McTell, both a travelogue and a detailed biography of the influential blues singer Blind Willie McTell.
This work was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for in 2008. Gray was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge, in 2005.
He established a Bob Dylan blog in 2006.
His official website was created in 2011. In 2015 he received the higher doctorate of Doctor of Literature (Doctor of Letters in English) from the University of New York