Fay Ray were a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

new wave band who were active from 1979 to 1982. The band formed in Bangor in north-west Wales in 1979 and despite rumours to the contrary were not named after the dog of photographer William Wegman. The band was signed by producer

Nigel Gray Nigel Gray (1947 – 30 July 2016) was an English record producer. His album credits include ''Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), ''Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979), and ''Zenyatta Mondatta'' (1980) for the Police, ''Kaleidoscope'' (1980) and '' Juju'' (1981) ...

to his Surrey Sounds label, and they released a single, "Family Affairs", in 1980. The single "Family Affairs" was one of three records of the week selected by Lynden Barber in his "Essential Buys" column in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''; the other two being "

Reward Reward may refer to: Places * Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland * Reward, California (disambiguation) * Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland Arts, entertainment, and media * "Rewa ...

" by

the Teardrop Explodes The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward", the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s. T ...

and "

I'm in Love with a German Film Star "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" is a post-punk song by the British band the Passions. It was released as a single by Polydor Records on 23 January 1981,''Post Punk Diary: 1980–1982'' by George Gimarc and reached No. 25 on the UK Singles C ...

" by the Passions. However, as a small independent label, Surrey Sound did not have the distribution network in place to capitalise on this success; it was not in the shops to buy. It did, however help spark the interest of Fred Hyam of

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. Following a chance meeting with the band's prospective manager at the annual

MIDEM Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

record business festival in 1981, Fay Ray were then signed to

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

. The band recorded their debut album ''Contact You'' with Gray and it was released in 1982, preceded by the single "(Waiting for the) Heatwave". Two

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s were made for songs from the album, "Heatwave" and "Modern Lovers". The band also recorded two live performances of "Heatwave" and "Contact You" in summer 1982 at the BBC Television Centre as part of a show made about music in Bangor, Gwynedd by the BBC Community Programmes Unit and The Gwynedd Union of Musicians. Despite some commercial success in the US and in Europe, including an appearance on episode 71 of Germany's ''

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' (german: The Music Shop) was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s ''Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour''. ...

'' (the German equivalent of the UK's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'') on 20 May 1982, sales of ''Contact You'' in the UK were poor. A second album had already been recorded but was not released when the label dropped the band. Disillusioned with the music business, the band split up shortly afterwards. In 2018, due to increased attention to their music via the Internet, the band reissued a remastered "Contact You'' on CD, first=Andrew , last=Martin , title=Fay Ray back on stage to celebrate re-release of 80s album , url=https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/16994054.fay-ray-back-on-stage-to-celebrate-re-release-of-80s-album/ , newspaper=

North Wales Chronicle ''The North Wales Chronicle'' is a weekly regional newspaper based in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, owned by NWN Media. News coverage is mainly concerning north Gwynedd, including the city of Bangor and town of Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a ...

, date=19 October 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019145715/https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/16994054.fay-ray-back-on-stage-to-celebrate-re-release-of-80s-album/ , archive-date=19 October 2018 , access-date=15 February 2019 with five bonus tracks and new sleeve notes.

Band members

*Sheila Macartney – lead vocals, guitar, organ, tambourine *John Lovering – guitar *Jeff Taylor – saxophone, accordion, flute, backing vocals *Tony Travis – bass, backing vocals *Owen Hughes – drums

References

External links

Discography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

''Contact You'' album playlist
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups disestablished in 1982 Welsh new wave musical groups Welsh rock music groups Warner Music Group artists Elektra Records artists