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Born in Elwood Indiana in 1920, Ray Still moved with his family to a farm in Iowa where he lived till the age of 11 (and where he—only half-jokingly—claims he learned about resonance from calling the hogs). The family moved to Los Angeles, California during the Great Depression and, at the age of fourteen, Still started playing the clarinet seriously. He also ushered without pay at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, simply to hear the music. It was here that he was inspired by the artistry of the great Belgian oboist Henri de Busser, and decided to switch from clarinet to oboe. De Busser who, along with his brother Albert, had studied at the Brussels Conservatory in Belgium also influenced Leon Goosens to become an oboist many years earlier. De Busser had a particular singing way of playing which always stressed the long line—perhaps because he taught as many voice students as oboists in his L.A. studio.

Though Still never studied directly with De Busser, he did study with his disciple and long time associate, Philip Memoli, second oboe to de Busser in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Memoli later had a long career at the MGM studios in Hollywood recording the sound tracks for many famous movies. He favored the same singing style as that used by DeBusser.