Ray began his musical career at the age of eight, singing solo at the church where his father was the minister. It always pays to have good connections! As a child he studied the piano and saxophone. At the age of thirteen Ray taught himself to play the bass guitar, left-handed like Paul McCartney, picking along with his favorite Beatles album even though he is right handed. A year later when Ray decided to learn to play the acoustic guitar, he turned the guitar around to the correct position to learn chords. He began writing his own songs shortly thereafter. As a young adult he enjoyed performing with church and school choirs. For a short interval he majored in Music at Northern Virginia Community College where he studied voice and classical guitar. He also sang in the Alexandria City Chorus in Virginia and the Oak Ridge Chorus in Tennessee.

Ray has worked as a soloist, singing and playing the guitar. He has also worked in several bands playing bass guitar and keyboards in Northern Virginia, Knoxville, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia. Ray continues to write and perform his original songs in addition to his other musical endeavors.

Ray enjoys all styles of music. Some of his favorites are contemporary jazz and progressive rock. Some of his favorite musical acts include The Beatles, Yes, Sting, Bruce Hornsby, The Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain and the "greatest singer of all time," Patsy Cline.

In the near future, Ray plans to complete work on his first recorded collection of original songs, his "Greatest Hits".