About Me
P R E S S
R E L E A S E !
mr. RAY SIGNS WITH UNIVERSAL RECORDS UK!
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MAJOR REUTERS ARTICLE ON KIDS' MUSIC FEATURING mr. RAY
IS GETTING PICKED UP WORLDWIDE!
www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSL2648196220080
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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 recently 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! are played on Radio Disney at least once a month each.
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. One song, Family Ride, is played at least twice a day.
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 May 2007 to wonderful acclaim. Cool Kids also locked up a deal whereby his videos from his DVD's are shown in-between TV shows (interstitials) on the very popular The Baby Channel, seen in over a million homes throughout the UK.
On February 2nd 2008, the weekend section of the LONDON TIMES will run a feature on Kids' Music in the UK,
and feature mr. RAY with quotes and pictures.
WALL ST. JOURNAL / PRESS ::: He has been featured and/or profiled in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Parenting Magazine, Family Fun, NICK Jr magazine, and many more.TOURS ::: His performances this year will include locations such as Los Angeles, Stowe Vermont, Boston, New York City, Chicago and London.
::: B I O :::
mr. RAY (Ray Andersen) grew up in the house that legendary songwriters, Carole King and Gerry Goffin lived in...
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 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, and 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 as the opening act for 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, of course, 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," clad in his trademark black glasses, 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 entitled, 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. Starting December 6th 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 animated original songs.
In March 2007, mr. RAY signed with Cool Kids Music based in London. His products are now sold in many retail stores there, and can be seen on Sky Tv's The Baby Channel almost daily. In May '07, he toured throughout London. Universal Records UK, will include two of his songs for a Winter '07 Pre-School-themed compilation CD, and mr. RAY will appear in the commercial for it.
mr. RAY has the following he also dreamed of – he just never thought they’d be under 8 years old! Entire families are often 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 and his wife, Patti, live in New Jersey USA, and are the parents of a beautiful girl they adopted from birth…they named her Layla.
