Ray Lyell (born 1962 in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and vocal coach.

Career

Ray Lyell came to prominence with his band, the Storm, in the late 1980s. Ray Lyell and the Storm released their self-titled debut album in 1989. Its first single, "Another Man's Gun", scored No. 6 on the AOR charts. The second single released by Lyell, "Carry Me", was a top 40 hit on the CHR charts and still gets airplay in Canada. Lyell was nominated for a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

as Most Promising Male Vocalist, in 1989. Shortly after the nomination, he began an international tour in Australia. In 1992, Lyell sold the rights to the name "the Storm" after a legal conflict in the United States. ''Desert Winds'', his next album, was released under his own name, even though the members of the band continued to tour and perform with him. "Gypsy Wind" was the album's first successful single. In 1994, Ray Lyell travelled to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, to begin working on his third album, ''Working Man'', with writers, Billy Crain and

Todd Cerney Todd David Cerney (August 8, 1953 – March 14, 2011) was an American songwriter and musician. He composed " Good Morning Beautiful", a 2002 five-week country number one (Billboard) hit for Steve Holy (co-written with Zack Lyle); "The Blues Is M ...

. ''Working Man'' was released in 1995. A decade later, Lyell released his fourth album, ''Running on Faith'', with CMC Canada. Ray Lyell also performs and preaches at various ministries across the Niagara Region.

Vocal coach

In 1996, Lyell developed the Dynamic System of Vocal Teaching. His experience as a performer, with thousands of shows, meshed with his ability to coach singers toward better and healthier vocal performances. In an effort to expand his own knowledge, Lyell has studied with some of the most prominent vocal coaches in North America. He continues to teach, write and record out of his studio, Rayne Records, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Songwriter

In 1987, radio station HTZ-FM sponsored a songwriting contest. Ray Lyell won first place with his song, "Take This Heart". Later that year, he co-wrote, with

Paul Hackman Paul Wayne Hackman (November 14, 1953 – July 5, 1992) was a Canadian guitarist who performed with the rock band Helix from 1976 until his death in a road accident. Among the hits which contain his playing are the #32 Canadian single "Rock You ...

of the band

Helix A helix () is a shape like a corkscrew or spiral staircase. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is formed as two intertwined helices, ...

, the title track to their album, ''

Wild In The Streets ''Wild in the Streets'' is a 1968 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry Shear and starring Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook, and Shelley Winters. Based on the short story "The Day It All Happened, Baby!" by Robert Thom, it was distribu ...

''. The success of ''Wild In The Streets'' earned Lyell a gold album. He also co-wrote tracks on '' half-ALIVE'' and ''

It's a Business Doing Pleasure ''It's A Business Doing Pleasure'' was the eighth Helix studio album and tenth album altogether. It was their only release on Aquarius Records. ''It's A Business Doing Pleasure'' followed the death of lead guitarist Paul Hackman and the departur ...

'' with Hackman. Lyell wrote all of the songs from his four albums, with an occasional collaboration with other writers such as Billy Crain.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyell, Ray 1962 births Living people Canadian male singers Canadian male songwriters Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario Vocal coaches Writers from Hamilton, Ontario Date of birth missing (living people)