Cray's musical beginnings go back to when he was a student at Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia.

By the age of 20, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast.

[4] In the late 1970s he lived in Eugene, Oregon, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks.

Two albums on HighTone Records in the mid-1980s, Bad Influence and False Accusations, were moderately successful in the United States and in Europe, where he was building a reputation as a live artist.

Cray was signed to Mercury Records and in 1986 released his fourth album, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, which received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single "Smoking Gun" gave him wider appeal and name recognition.

[7][8] By the late 1980s, Cray was an opening act for such major stars as Eric Clapton and sold out larger venues as a solo artist.

In 2011, Cray was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame[11] and received the Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance in 2017.