Beatles, Brian Wilson,
Stones, The Who, Monkees, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, Stereolab,
Hans Christian Andersen, JM Barrie, Air, Bob Dylan,
Carole King, Kate Bush, Laura Nyro, Jellyfish, XTC,
Leonard Bernstein, Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Randy Newman, John Barry, George Martin, Esquivel, Pete Townshend,
Bruce Springsteen, The Band, Allman Brothers, Yes, Rogers & Hammerstein, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, The Clash, Jimmy Webb, Stravinksy, Stevie Wonder,
Mamas & The Papas, Wondermints, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, The Cowsills...and zillions more.......................
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This is the game, mr. RAY And The Missing Colours built by Matmi in the UK,
commissioned by Universal Music TV UK.
If you start it and want to stop the sounds and music to listen to songs on the Myspace Player, simply press reload at the top of your browser and click a song to listen to.
E N J O Y !
MAJOR REUTERS ARTICLE ON KIDS' MUSIC FEATURING mr. RAY
IS GETTING PICKED UP WORLDWIDE!
www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL2648196220080228">
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mr. RAY is distributed in the US through KOCH Distribution.
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::: Q U I C K F A C T S :::
NICKELODEON ::: mr. RAY's commercial selling his latest DVD, Songs From The Stickered Guitar, was on NICK and Cartoon Network for the entire month of December 2006, which ran 4-5 times a day.
BLUES' CLUES ::: mr. RAY's song, Boo-Boos Go Away was featured in Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues' 10 Year Anniversary Special.
TOYS R US ::: Since 2004, Toys-R-Us stores, nationwide, pump at least 3 of his songs daily through their broadcast systems as folks shop, through Muzak.
RADIO DISNEY ::: Two songs from Start Dreaming! have been played on Radio Disney.
QVC ::: He appeared and performed on QVC in August 2004 selling his two DVD's and 2 CD's to a nationwide audience.
XM RADIO ::: Many songs from all three mr. RAY albums are played daily on XM Kids Channel 116.
DOMESTIC FLIGHT MUSIC PROGRAMMING ::: mr. RAY's songs can be heard on many American flights in the childrens' section.
SONGS ON TV ::: His kid songs can be heard, in part, on the Martha Stewart Show, NBC's Sports Action, Kathy Griffin's D-List, YES TV's Yankees On Deck, and many more...
LONDON TOURS / REPRESENTATION ::: mr. RAY is represented in London exclusively with Cool Kids Music. He toured there in 2007 & 2008 to wonderful acclaim.
On February 2nd 2008, the weekend section of the LONDON TIMES ran a feature on Kids' Music in the UK,
and featured mr. RAY with quotes and pictures.
WALL ST. JOURNAL / PRESS ::: He has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Family Fun, NICK Jr magazine, and many more.
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mr. RAY (Ray Andersen), grew up in the house that legendary songwriters, Carole King & Gerry Goffin lived in…It all began when his Dad told the family that they'd be moving into the former home of the legendary singer/songwriters, in West Orange, New Jersey. It is the house where Carole King wrote most of Tapestry, and she and Gerry Goffin wrote the hit song, Pleasant Valley Sunday, for the Monkees. Pleasant Valley Way runs right through West Orange and the song's lyrics summarize suburban life, and mentions former neighbors on mr. RAY's street.
Upon an older cousin turning him onto the Beatles, and discovering from there the beauty of great songwriting, Ray was inspired at a very early age to attempt playing the piano, guitar and drums, & start crafting his own songs –
without a single lesson.
Besides having his Rock and Roll idols and inspirations, Ray was always attracted to the zaniness of TV/movie personalities & entertainers like Danny Kaye, Jerry Lewis, Monty Python, Dick Van Dyke, etc. Ray describes it as, "...keeping one foot in childhood, and one foot in the grown-up world…it's a delicate balance." Seeing these personalities prompted Ray to start acting in local productions and studying at New York City’s famed, American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
In the early 80s, he was a member of the notable Asbury Park NJ, Stone Pony house band, Cats On A Smooth Surface. Bruce Springsteen played with Ray and the band so much, he often raved to the press worldwide, that they were his favorite group of musicians to jam with when he was off tour.
In 1995, Ray and his wife, Patti Maloney, formed a pop/rock duo, Blue Van Gogh, and they released an album called Hi-Fi Junkie Sonata and video to international acclaim. They toured throughout Germany with matchbox twenty in April of 1998.
Later that year, 1998, Ray got a call to play guitar, keyboards & sing backup for international rock star, Meat Loaf. Besides giving him the thrill of performing in some of America & Europe’s greatest venues, Ray, as part of Meat Loaf's band, did a lot of TV such as David Letterman, Jay Leno, Top Of The Pops, TGIF, VH1's Storytellers, Hard Rock Live and many more. In October of 1999, the 1-rated VH1 Storyteller episode of all time, Meat Loaf's, went on the road through 2000, & Ray along with Mr. Loaf can be seen forever preserved on the Storytellers DVD and CD.
Throughout all of this, mr. RAY was entering into a new musical galaxy where his critics were a lot tougher...even if they were under the age of 8! But Ray knew how to get through to them with his music & friendly antics. In 1994, his wife, who was part-timing at a pre-school, asked Ray to come in and perform some songs for the kids. In no time, he became known as "mr. RAY," holding an eye-catching, colorfully-stickered guitar. The kids were quickly hooked. Singing about friendship, dinosaurs and rainbows never sounded so cool before…It was such a success that parents everywhere started begging him to record these songs for those long car rides. mr. RAY wrote and co-produced his own album titled, START DREAMING! It was released in April 2001.
He then signed with Sugar Beats Entertainment (a company owned by Carole King's daughter!) to distribute his album nationwide. In March 2003, mr. RAY (no longer Ray Andersen!) signed a DVD/Video deal with a Philadelphia-based company, Center City Film & Video. Live footage intertwined with animation based on his songs is featured.
He's been featured in Parenting Magazine, Family Fun & the New York Times, & many more. The Wall Street Journal profiled him on the front of one of their Marketplace section, with a color photo, as well. In 2005 he was on AMC's reality-based series, Into Character, where he portrayed (as himself) a rock guitar instructor on the La Bamba episode.
mr. RAY has also appeared on QVC and sold his DVD and Start Dreaming CD. mr. RAY's second album, Songs From The Kids' Lounge was released in October 2004. The third mr. RAY album, Family Ride was released November 2006.
A new album of originals will be released in early 2009.
In December 2006, the first-ever mr. RAY commercial aired on NICKELODEON & CARTOON NETWORK in the US, selling the brand-new DVD, "Songs From The Stickered Guitar" It features 5 new animated original songs.
He is represented in the UK by Cool Kids Music and toured there in May 2007 and February 2008.
In July 2008, mr. RAY signed with Universal Records in the UK. This is a deal for the UK & Ireland only.
Mr. RAY has the following he also dreamt of – he just never thought they’d be under 8 years old! Families are always seen singing and dancing together at all of his live sows. He calls what he does: MUSIC FOR THE KID IN ALL OF US.
Ray & his wife, Patti, live in New Jersey, and are the parents of a beautiful girl
they adopted from birth. They named her Layla.
!!! Start Code To Apply Top Banner !!!!
We are finally ready to start promoting my 'I Surrender' single with my album, 'Ella Trip' coming right after -yey!! What d'ya think to the video teaser?
Just stopping by to say hello and give you some news. The new album 'Coolgilly and the Freakshow' from Centascope is now available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and many more.
Thanks for the friendship.. Hope you enjoy the music and message behind it. My mission in life is to fight Human Trafficking. understanding the individual pain of others is sometimes to painful for an other individual to touch and that is frightening ...what i mean is that someone whose life is not traumatized and brutalized as a regular sequence of every day events unconsciously seeks the camouflage and shelter of apathy and banality from the reality of such devastating anguish and terror ...but the spirit of young people who are used as sex slaves in the systematized global industry of human trafficking is now reaching out to the human fellowship in hope and desperation and through technology ...it is scary when humanity turns a blind eye to this horror ...its like ignoring genocide whilst it is happening ...what i am asking is that if you hear the cry of these young people who are existing in an environment of torture and brutality each and every day that you then please do not turn away from them ...please reach deeply into your heart and soul and please in 2009 join a movement or become a part of an event that challenges modern slavery in the 21st century ...
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