ABC/Fred LeeMichael Ray‘s life has gone into overdrive, with his self-titled debut album coming out last Friday and his debut hit, “Kiss You in the Morning,” sitting at #1 on the country chart. Michael got confirmation the song had hit the top spot at midnight Sunday.
“Oh, I was freaking out,” Michael tells ABC Radio. “We kind of knew Friday there was a strong possibility, but you never know until charts are done. Especially being the first single, it’s such a rare thing, and it’s something that doesn’t happen all the time. So, it’s overwhelming.”
Michael is keeping in touch with his roots back home in Florida, too. On the album release date, Michael made an appearance at the Walmart near his hometown of Eustis. His aunt and cousin actually worked at that location when he was a kid, and Michael spent hours looking at all the CDs in the store’s music department. The Walmart was packed for Michael’s four-hour meet-and-greet, but he didn’t get to live out his dream of seeing his album on display in the music section.
Michael explains, “I actually didn’t get to see it on the shelf, because [the fans] bought ‘em all. So, that was cooler than seeing it on the shelf.”
Michael capped off his big release week with a Tuesday performance on ABC’s Good Morning America. He tells us his phone was blowing up with all the friends and family excited to see him on national TV.
Michael was excited about the early morning gig, too. He says, “I don’t really sleep a lot anyway. So, whenever you’re playing Good Morning America, that already cuts the four hours I normally get in half. So, I went to bed about 1:00 and woke up at 2:30 pretty much wide awake.”
Michael heads to Farmingville, New York Thursday for a sold-out show with Sam Hunt.
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