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Ray Cokes (born Raymond Christopher Cokes on 24 February 1958) is an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...
.


Career


Early life

Ray's father was an officer in the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, who was stationed at various navy bases around the world. When Ray was 15 the family permanently resettled back to
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. At age 20, Ray moved to
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, where he took on various jobs, including DJ on a local radio station. This led to a job as a music presenter on Belgian national TV channel
RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...
, where he presented the show ''Rox Box'' in 1982. With growing reputation, more music video shows followed on Sky Channel and
Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...
. When
MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...
launched in 1987 he became a
video jockey A video jockey (abbreviated VJ or sometimes veejay) is an announcer or host who introduces music videos and live performances on commercial music television channels such as MTV, VH1, Much (TV channel), MuchMusic and Channel V. Origins The term " ...
mainly co-presenting alongside
Marcel Vanthilt Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt (; born 24 August 1957) is a Belgian singer and television presenter.Heerema,Y.Marcel Vanthilt – Presentator Marcel Vanthilit NCRV-gids 1, 5 till 11 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2011. Early life Mar ...
.


''MTV's Most Wanted''

Between 1992 and 1995, Cokes hosted MTV Europe's live television series ''
MTV's Most Wanted ''MTV's Most Wanted'' is a television series on MTV Europe which was broadcast from 1992 to 1995, based in London, England. It was presented by Ray Cokes. The series was broadcast live from MTV Studios in Camden and featured blends of viewer int ...
'', an award-winning daily show which soon became the most popular on channel with its zoo TV format. The studio crew were as big as the celebrities who appeared on the show, including Rob & Andy the cameramen, Floor manager Nina and pathetic Pat. Each night (Tuesday to Friday) musical stars performed live as well as competitions and on-air phone calls to viewers. The team wanted to end the show at its peak, with the last six months with Will MacDonald as producer, who was associated with Ginger Chris Evans on many of his TV projects. The last musical act were
The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
who let Cokes play with them on their final song. Other guests that night included Bjork and
Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...
from U2. After a 2 month sabbatical, MTV decided to spend money on a big once-a-week spectacular called ''X Ray Vision''. Instead of coming from the studio, it used the 1st floor of the MTV building at Camden Lock. After several weeks the show went on location to Hamburg. It was billed to feature punk band
Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. History The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...
playing live on screen. A local journalist, however, wrote that the band would be there in person. A large number of their fans turned up and were disappointed to discover their absence. They vented their anger by throwing glass bottles and beer at a confused Cokes and camera crew, who were unaware of what had been written in the press. For the safety of his crew, Cokes decided to end the show early. MTV used him as a scapegoat and a week later the show went out for a final time, bringing Cokes' time at MTV to an end, after nine years. Not long after,
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
Europe broke up into localized versions, and in 1994, Cokes released a
single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...
titled "Simply Sexy!" under the name Ray Cokes & the Sex Gods featuring Al Agami, the song's title referring to one of the
catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
s frequently used in ''Most Wanted''.


After MTV

While working with Will MacDonald on ''
MTV's Most Wanted ''MTV's Most Wanted'' is a television series on MTV Europe which was broadcast from 1992 to 1995, based in London, England. It was presented by Ray Cokes. The series was broadcast live from MTV Studios in Camden and featured blends of viewer int ...
'' Cokes met Chris Evans, who brought him to the original
Virgin 1215 Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW. History 1993–1997: Virg ...
in the UK. The show went out weekday evenings in a similar time slot to his old TV show. Cokes also presented series 2 of
Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...
's hit 90s TV show '' Wanted''. His subsequent work includes presenting ''En Direct de'' from 2005 to 2009, broadcast on the French television station
France 4 France 4 () is a French free-to-air television channel owned by France Télévisions, focused on children's programming. The colour of France 4 is purple. Originally launched as Festival in 1996, the channel took its current name in 2005 when it ...
. Cokes also worked as the compère for the White Concert, a live concert recorded in
Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 61,074 (1 January 2022) and the municipality's population is 94,443 (), making it the 8th largest city in De ...
,
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
, in November 2008 due to the 40-year jubilee of the
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
' eponymous ''
White Album White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
''. In late 2008 he moved to
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and in 2009 to
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, declaring that he would like to permanently settle there. During the summer of 2009, Cokes and Jean Blaute co-hosted ''Tournée Générale'', a 10-part exploration of
Belgian beer Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flanders red ale, Flemish red ales, sour Oud bruin, brown ales, strong ales and Stout (beer), stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as A ...
around the world from Sputnik Media, on
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
channel
Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...
. A second 10-part series was aired in 2011 and a third in 2013 on the Belgian channel
Eén Eén (stylized as één; en, "one") is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadca ...
. In September 2011, Cokes hosted the Sunday afternoon show ''Cokes calling'' on
Classic 21 Classic 21 is a Belgian public FM radio station, part of the RTBF broadcasting organisation. The station, based in Mons, was the only Classic rock radio in Belgium until 2008 when they switched to adult-contemporary and pop. The station plays predo ...
, one of the radio stations of the Belgian RTBF. From 2012 to 2014, he was one of the three judges in the first ''Belgium's Got Talent''. In February 2014, he hosted the Swedish Grammy awards. In October 2014, he released his autobiography, ''My Most Wanted Life - On-Screen, Off-Screen and In-Between'', available in German and English editions. Cokes has been put into ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
'' as a splash text reading: "Bring me Ray Cokes" because Notch, the game's developer, used to watch Cokes when he was a kid.reddit.com
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cokes whilst living in Spain hosted an Instagram live show several nights a week.


References


External links


Official website
*
tourneegenerale.canvas.bestandaard.be
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cokes, Ray 1958 births Living people British VJs (media personalities) English television presenters