Raymond "Ray" Lynch (born July 3, 1943) is an American guitarist, lutenist, keyboardist, and composer. He began his musical career in 1967 by performing in The Renaissance Quartet in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

before leaving in 1974 and giving up his musical career. During his hiatus, Lynch studied with his spiritual teacher,

Adi Da Adi Da Samraj, born Franklin Albert Jones (November 3, 1939 – November 27, 2008) was an American-born spiritual teacher, writer and artist. He was the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam. Adi Da initially became known in the ...

, who would ultimately encourage him to return to music. Lynch released five albums during the 1980s and 1990s, including '' The Sky of Mind'', '' Deep Breakfast'', '' No Blue Thing'', and ''

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening ''Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening'' is Ray Lynch’s fifth and final studio album. It reflects Lynch's classical background and features performances by members of the San Francisco Symphony. The album was released after Lynch signed ...

''. Initially producing his music independently, Lynch eventually worked with Music West. After Lynch sued and left the company, Lynch joined

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

in 1992 before retiring in 2000. Lynch has won three Billboard awards.

Early life

Lynch was born on July 3, 1943 in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. As the second of four children, Lynch was raised in

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

. Lynch's father was a lawyer; Lynch's mother was a noted watercolorist and an amateur pianist who influenced him to create music as a child. Other early influences included

hymns A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

and

soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. Lynch began studying the piano at the age of six. At age twelve, he was inspired by

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

's classical recordings and decided to pursue a career in music. After attending

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in both St. Stephen's Episcopal School and Austin High School, Lynch went to the Austin campus of the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. After studying there for a year, he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

with his then wife Ginny and his child. Over there, he was apprenticed to Eduardo Sainz de la Maza, a

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

teacher. Three years later Lynch returned to the university to study composition with various instruments including guitar,

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, and

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

. While Lynch went on to become a musician, his siblings ended up becoming lawyers.

Life and career

In 1967, while still in college, Lynch was invited to

to join The Renaissance Quartet, performing the

alongside Robert White (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

), Barbara Mueser (

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

), and Morris Newman (

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

), replacing Joseph Iadone. Lynch also performed with other groups, such as "Festival Winds", as well as collaborative and solo performances. Lynch also taught the guitar, lute, and vihuela in the Mexican city of

Taxco Taxco de Alarcón (; usually referred to as simply Taxco) is a small city and administrative center of Taxco de Alarcón Municipality located in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Taxco is located in the north-central part of the state, from the cit ...

in the late 1960s. During his career, Lynch purchased a 125-acre farm in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. By 1974, Lynch experienced a "spiritual crisis" that led to his decision to move from Maine to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and give up his musical career. Although he became a carpenter and a

purchasing agent Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, Service (economics), services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agenc ...

in California, Lynch also continued to practice his compositional skills. In an interview with

Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

, Lynch said that his return to music was prompted by a suggestion from his spiritual teacher,

, in California. To prepare for his return to music, Lynch bought an ARP Odyssey with "borrowed money" in 1980; the synthesizer helped him create music in the developing electronic genre. Two years later, Lynch released his first album, ''Truth is the Only Profound'', which recites the teachings of Adi Da "set to the background of devotional music and songs". Lynch later followed up with an instrumental album, ''The Sky of Mind''. When Lynch released his third album, '' Deep Breakfast'', in 1984 independently, he sold over 72,000 albums out of his small apartment. Lynch was featured on Musical Starstreams on June 1985. Immediately after joining Music West in Winter 1985, he released ''Deep Breakfast'' to a wider audience. The album was eventually certified Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. In 1989, '' No Blue Thing'' became Lynch's first album to hit #1 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart. ''No Blue Thing'' was also his only album to appear on Billboard's " Top 200 Albums", peaking at #197. It won Billboard's "Top New Age Album" in 1990, and Lynch also won Billboard's "Top New Age Artist" in both 1989 and 1990. During his time with Music West, Lynch was featured on

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

as well as the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

La 1 program "Música N.A.". In 1991, Lynch sued Music West for allegedly not paying him for his work. He left Music West, taking the rights to his music with him, and signed up with

Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label wa ...

. Under the new label, Lynch's albums The Sky Of Mind and No Blue Thing except Deep Breakfast were re-released on September 1992 with new album covers. Under the new record company, Lynch followed up with his final album, the classical ''

'', in 1993. The album featured members of the San Francisco Symphony. Like the preceding album, it hit #1 on the "Top New Age Albums" chart. In 1998, Lynch released his first and only compilation album, '' Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One'', which included two original tracks and a remix of "

Celestial Soda Pop "Celestial Soda Pop" is a song written and composed by Ray Lynch for his third album, '' Deep Breakfast''. The song has been considered to be the highlight of the album. Composition The song was composed in C♯ minor and features a repetitive ...

". Lynch left Windham Hill in 2000 and re-released his own catalog of music under his own record company. On September 2015, Lynch's house was destroyed by the

Valley Fire The Valley Fire was a wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 12 in Lake County, California. It began shortly after 1:00 pm near Cobb with multiple reports of a small brush fire near the intersection of ...

, along with his studio, awards, and the master tapes of his music. As a result, his friend Grant Valdes Huling set up a

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the be ...

page, which ultimately raised over $20,000.

Influences

Throughout his career, Lynch did not want his music to be classified as "New Age". In an interview with

CD Review ''CD Review'' (formerly known as ''Digital Audio'' and ''Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review'') is a discontinued American monthly magazine that specialized in reviewing albums and audio electronics, especially compact discs. The magazine was fo ...

on August 1989, Lynch and said he didn't really mind being labeled as a "new age" artist, but says that he doesn't like "being grouped with music that I felt is, in general, pretty mediocre and boring". Lynch also said that "'classical' would be the best category for me." Lynch had been both a student and follower of

since 1974. In regards to the spiritual nature of his music, Lynch believed that it "has to be judged subjectively by the listener, not the composer." Lynch named several of his songs and albums after the themes found in Da's novel, ''The Mummery Book''. However, in a 1989

interview, Lynch clarified that he wasn't trying to promote Da's work through his music. After the death of Adi Da, Lynch performed various songs for Da's tribute album, "May You Ever Dwell In Our Heart", in 2009.

Discography

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Ray New-age musicians American classical musicians Ambient musicians Moody College of Communication alumni Living people Musicians from Salt Lake City Musicians from San Rafael, California Windham Hill Records artists 1943 births Classical musicians from Texas Classical musicians from California