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 Ray
Andersen is artist who has kept his options open - and as
a result, he is now busier than ever, albeit in a direction
that he might never have imagined when he was playing in
a bar band down on the Jersey Shore nearly two decades ago.
Perhaps
best known as Meat Loaf's tour guitarist or one half of
the pop/rock duo known as Blue Van Gogh, Andersen has more
recently emerged as "Mr. Ray," a latter-day guitar-slinging
Mr. Rogers who writes and performs music for children. Andersen's
career is a great example of how success can find you if
you leave the door - and your mind - open to it.
Music
has been a part of Andersen's life for about as long as
he's lived it -- perhaps not all that surprising given that
he grew up in a New Jersey house whose former tenants were
the legendary singer-songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole
King. Influenced by Goffin and King, as well as the Beatles,
Andersen taught himself to sing, write songs and play guitar,
piano and drums. By the early 1980s, Andersen was happily
playing in the house band at the famed Jersey Shore club
the Stone Pony -- and yes, Bruce did get up and play frequently
with the band.
After
meeting - and marrying - Patti Maloney, a talented singer/songwriter
in her own right, Ray and Patti formed their own pop/rock
duo, Blue Van Gogh. The group released a critically acclaimed
CD, and in 1998 toured Germany as the opening act for Matchbox
Twenty. Later that year, Ray got an interesting call to
join Meat Loaf's touring band as a guitarist and keyboard
player, traveling extensively throughout 2000 and making
appearances on TV shows such as the "Tonight Show," " David
Letterman" and "VH1's Storytellers."
But
the seeds for Andersen's eventual emergence as Mr. Ray had
been planted years earlier, when Patti asked Ray drop by
the pre-school where Patti was working part-time to help
calm some of the more boisterous kids with music. The school's
director happened to hear Ray - and see the effect his music
had on the kids - and asked him to come in on a regular
basis. The rest, as they say, is history.
These
days, armed with his trademark sticker-festooned Takamine
guitar, hip black-framed glasses and a great repertoire
of original songs, Ray is playing to packed pre-schools
and private parties, not only entertaining adoring kids
with songs about dinosaurs, friendly aliens and rainbows,
but instilling in them a love for music and a desire to
play an instrument themselves.
This
past April, Ray wrote and co-produced his own album, entitled
Start Dreaming, then signed with Sugar Beats Entertainment
-- a company owned by Carole King's daughter) to distribute
his album nationwide. Even more exciting, Ray was recently
approached by PBS about doing his own TV show for kids.
But
the best way to hear about Andersen's story is from Ray
himself. Ray -- and his wife Patti -- recently stopped by
the StarPolish office to talk with StarPolish editorial
director Jim Willcox about his early start, the transformation
to Mr. Ray, and what it's like playing for a younger audience.
Then Mr. Ray picked up his festive guitar and demonstrated
why kids - and their parents - could well make him the next
Mr. Rogers.
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