His musical career started in the early 1970s with a band called "Brown Sugar", which played numerous West Coast gigs.
In 2002, deLay assembled the final version of his band, with David Vest sharing lead vocals and playing piano, Peter Dammann on guitar, and Jeff Minnick on drums, and Dave Kahl on bass.
A live CD[2] featuring this lineup was released in 2007, entering the Top Ten on Billboard's national blues chart.
In March 2007, after returning to Portland from a gig in Klamath Falls, Oregon, deLay felt ill and sought medical treatment.
[3] An outgrowth of the memorial concerts is an annual event, a benefit for a scholarship at Ethos, a non-profit, Portland-based music education program, in deLay's name.