Ray Condo

Ray Condo (born Ray Tremblay, May 16, 1950 - April 15, 2004) was a Canadian rockabilly singer, saxophonist, and guitarist.

Life

Born Ray Tremblay in Hull, Quebec, Ray grew up across the river in Ottawa, Ontario the third of five children. Ray's two brothers, William (Billy) and Robert were younger; his two sisters, Eileen and Maureen were older. Condo taught himself to play the guitar at 11 and by the time he was 16 had co-written and released his first recording, 'If You Only Knew' with a band in the style of the British invasion called The Peasants.

Ray attended an elite vocational fine art & design high school specifically established by the Ontario Ministry of Education for those showing exceptional talent in fine art and design. An intense and rigorous 4 year program, many who started never completed the course but Ray seemed to thrive in this environment. It was during this time that Eileen, the second oldest and the one Ray was closest to, became severely depressed and finally committed suicide. This shook Ray to the core but he continued on, graduating and finding himself on the road, heading West and away from Ottawa. Reaching Vancouver, Ray studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. Not feeling all that challenged by their ciriculum, after one year he dropped out and found himself drawn to a world he would eventually return to for good ... music! That started with him playing bass in a Vancouver punk rock group called The Secret Vs.

He left for Montreal to paint for a year, but once again got caught up in music, getting together with bassist Clive Jackson, banjoist Chris Dean, violinist Edgar Bridwell, guitarist Eric Sandmark, and drummer Peter Sandmark to form a band called The Hardrock Goners, named after Hardrock Gunter, an early rock and roll musician. The Hardrock Goners performed a variety of styles, such as rockabilly, jazz, blues, country and western swing. Their first recordings appeared on the Og label's compilations, "It Came From Canada". They then established their own record label, "Crazy Rekkids".

He earned the last name "Condo" from "couch-surfing" around town so much that he was sometimes called a "one-man condo".

In 1991, he returned to Vancouver. The Hardrock Goners toured with him for another three years, and then him and his bassist merged in with a group called The Five Star Hillbillies, to create a new group called The Ricochets, named after how much they "bounced around". They made their last album in 2000.

In 2003, Condo suffered from a minor heart attack. A year later, new band member Ian Tiles found Condo dead from a heart attack in his Vancouver apartment.

Discography

*1991 - "Condo Country" (Ray Condo & his Hardrock Goners)
*1993 - "Come On!" (Ray Condo & his Hardrock Goners)
*1993 - "Hillbilly Holiday" (Ray Condo & his Hardrock Goners)
*1996 - "Swing Brother Swing" (Ray Condo & his Ricochets)
*1997 - "Door to Door Maniac" (Ray Condo & his Ricochets)
*2000 - "High & Wild" (Ray Condo & his Ricochets)

External links

* [http://www.raycondo.ca/index.html Biography by Carl Wilson on Official Site]
* [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/RayCondo.html Rockabilly Hall of Fame article]
* [http://www.chartattack.com/damn/2004/04/1607.cfm Chartattack article]
* [http://sandmark.tripod.com/condo.html Condo Biography]
* [http://sandmark.tripod.com/RayCondo/index.html Condo Photo Gallery]
* [http://ca.geocities.com/raycondomemorial/ Memorial Exhibition for Ray Condo]
* [http://dropd.com/issue/67/RayCondo/ Ray Condo Live Review]
* [http://www.moregoatthangoose.com/interviews/condo.htm Mote Magazine Interview]
* [http://www.mp3.com/ray-condo/artists/23057/biography.html mp3.com biography]
* [http://www.rockabilly.nl/artists/raycondo.htm Condo Biography]