Ray Cokes

Ray Cokes
Ray Cokes, Poperinge, Belgium 2011
Born	(1958-02-24) 24 February 1958 (age 58) Isle of Wight, England, UK
Occupation	TV presenter, actor

Ray Cokes (born Raymond Christopher Cokes on 24 February 1958 on the Isle of Wight) is an English television presenter.

His father was an officer in the Royal Navy, who was stationed at various navy bases around the world. At age 15 they permanently moved back to Britain. At age 20 he had become a punk and moved to Belgium, where he took on various jobs, including being a DJ in a club and on a local radio station. This led to a job as a music presenter on Belgian national TV channel RTBF in 1982, where he presented the show Rox Box (in French) which featured alternative music videos and live studio performances.

His success led to additional music video shows on Sky Channel and Music Box. When MTV Europe launched in 1987 he became a Video Jockey there. Arguably his most popular programme was Cokes and Vanthilt, with co-presenter Marcel Vanthilt.

Between 1992 and 1995, Cokes hosted MTV Europe's cult live television series MTV's Most Wanted, an award-winning daily show which soon became the most popular one on MTV Europe and gave a break to presenters such as Davina McCall. After it ended in 1995, Cokes got a weekly 90-minute show X-Ray which was not as successful. He left MTV Europe in 1996.

In 1994, Cokes released a single titled "Simply Sexy!" under the name Ray Cokes & the Sex Gods featuring Al Agami, the song's title referring to one of the catchphrases frequently used in Most Wanted.

Cokes also presented Channel Four's hit 1990s TV show Wanted.