Ray Condo
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Ray Condo (born Ray Tremblay, May 16, 1950 - April 15, 2004) was a Canadian rockabilly singer, saxophonist, and guitarist.
[edit] Life
Born in Hull, Quebec to a family of eight children, Condo picked up the guitar at 11, and by the time he was 16 he released his first album with a band in the style of the British invasion called The Peasants. After having finished high school, he went on to Vancouver, and trying his hand at drawing and painting, he studied for one term at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, but then dropped out and played bass in a Vancouver punk rock group called The Secret Vs.
He left to Montreal to paint for a year, but once again he instead 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.
[edit] 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)
