James Ray (rock musician)

James Ray is a rock singer and band-leader, best known as a member of Andrew Eldritch's side-project The Sisterhood and for his own band James Ray's Gangwar.

He was also a founding member of James Ray and The Performance, The MK Ultra, James Ray & The Longfolk, 4080peru and Black Hearted Riders

The Performance was founded by James Ray and Carl Harrison. An early demo of the tracks "Mexico Sundown Blues", "Dance" and "Edie Sedgwick" (the latter named after the actress) was sent to The Sisters of Mercy's record label, Merciful Release. Additional demos from the time included a cover of Alex Harvey Band's "Faith Healer" song and a track entitled "PBR Streetgang", recorded in Hamburg, in which the vocals were almost entirely soundbytes from the film "Apocalypse Now", including the song's title.

The band were signed, and after Ray's contribution to The Sisterhood project Gift, the label released the single "Mexico Sundown Blues" in July 1986.

Merciful Release subsequently released the singles "Texas" and "Dust Boat", followed by the compilation album A New Kind of Assassin. Although the band had recorded a song with the same title, it was not featured on the album, although it did appear on Gothic Rock compilations.

The band's final line up included James Ray, Carl Harrison and Richard Harvey for the single release "Dust Boat", which included "A New Kind of Assassin" as its B-side.

As mentioned previously, James Ray contributed vocals to The Sisterhood's "Gift" EP, which was recorded between The Sisters of Mercy's First and Last and Always and Floodland albums after the departure of Gary Marx (who went off to form Ghostdance), Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (both of whom went on to form The Mission). Ray and Harrison can also been seen "playing" keyboards during the Sisters' Top of the Pops performances promoting songs from 1987's Floodland.

After The Performance, Ray formed James Ray's Gangwar. Ray was still contracted to Merciful Release for one remaining album, so the band recorded Dios Esta De Nuestro Lado, a more aggressive sounding album, still with the southwestern American influence. The album's final track was a cover of Alvin Stardust's "[My] Coo Ca Choo". The opening track, "Rev Rev Lowrider", was released as a single. Further singles "Fuel", "Another Million Dollars" and "Without Conscience" were not included on the album.

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