Ray Lynch

Ray Lynch
Background information
Born July 3, 1943 (age 71)
Origin Salt Lake City, Utah
Genres Adult Alternative, New-age, Instrumental, Classical
Occupation(s) Composer, musician, mathematician, author
Instruments Classical guitar, lute, piano, keyboard
Years active c. 1980–present
Labels Ray Lynch Productions
Windham Hill Records
Website www.raylynch.com

Raymond "Ray" Lynch is a classically trained guitarist and lutenist. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to a musical and artistic family.[1] His mother was a classical pianist and watercolor artist. At age 6, Lynch began studying the piano until age 12, where he was inspired by the music of Andrés Segovia's classical recordings and decided to pursue a career in music. He attended both St. Stephen's Episcopal School, Austin, Texas and Austin High School then attended the main campus of University of Texas for one year before moving to Barcelona, Spain where he apprenticed to the classical guitar teacher, Eduardo Sainz de la Maza, for three years.[1]

After leaving Spain, he returned to the University of Texas where he studied music composition. While at college Lynch was invited to New York City to join The Renaissance Quartet where he performed the classical guitar and lute for several years.[1]

In the early days of his musical career, Lynch began writing instrumental recordings that blended classical and electronic components into melodic soundscapes. His debut album, The Sky of Mind (1983) artfully meshed his early classical music training with spatial melodies, and the album became an underground success. When Lynch released his second album Deep Breakfast (1984), he and his wife Kathleen sold over 50,000 albums out of their small apartment in San Rafael, California before licensing the music to a distributor.[1] Deep Breakfast has sold over 1.4 million copies without the benefits of live performances or videos, and was the first independently released album to be certified Platinum by the R.I.A.A.[2]

"The Oh Of Pleasure" from the album was used for years as the theme for Art Bell's Dreamland radio show. Lynch's third album No Blue Thing (1989) won two Billboard Awards, and in 1993, Lynch followed up with his fourth album, the classical Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening featuring members of the San Francisco Symphony. Lynch's fifth and most recent album, Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One (1998) is a retrospective of his work and includes three new music tracks.
Further song samples appear on each album page.
"Celestial Soda Pop"
Without live performances or videos Lynch's second album Deep Breakfast was the first independently released album to be certified Gold by the R.I.A.A. The album later went Platinum and Lynch won Billboard's Award for Artist of the Year in its genre.
"The Oh of Pleasure"
The Oh of Pleasure written by Ray Lynch and Tom Canning from Lynch's second album Deep Breakfast. The Oh of Pleasure appears on Grand Theft Auto IV video game.
"The Temple"
The Temple from Ray Lynch's debut album The Sky of Mind – Voices, acoustic instruments and keyboards.
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Discography

Sheet music

Published by Hal Leonard, Ray Lynch Anthology is 80 pages long and features selected piano solo arrangements of 14 songs from Ray Lynch's albums: Celestial Soda Pop, Falling in the Garden, Your Feeling Shoulders, Rhythm in the Pews, Kathleen's Song, Pastorale, Ivory, No Blue Thing, Here and Never Found, Homeward at Last, Evenings, Yes, Quandra, Good News, and Too Wounded. The anthology also includes an interview with Ray Lynch.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ray Lynch's official site: "Up Close and Personal"
  2. ↑ RIAA Gold & Platinum Database

External links