Biography

Guitarist Brian Ray’s extraordinary career has been a real-life rock & roll fantasy. At 17, Brian signed on as musical director and guitarist for blues great Etta James, a position he would hold for 14 years. With Etta, Brian shared a stage with icons like Van Morrison, John Lee Hooker, and even the Rolling Stones. In 2002, Brian was hired to play one song with Paul McCartney at a Super Bowl pre-game show. That one-song gig never officially ended, and ever since, Brian has toured extensively with McCartney playing bass, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar in what has been hailed as “Paul’s best band since the Beatles.” Brian can be heard on four McCartney solo albums, including 2018’s Egypt Station, Paul’s first number one album in the U.S. in more than 35 years. Brian’s latest solo works have been a series of well-received singles for Little Steven’s Wicked Cool label, the most recent of which is a duet with the legendary Smokey Robinson on a new garage-soul version of the classic “The Tears Of A Clown.” Additionally, Brian is lead vocalist and guitarist in The Bayonets – a band he formed with Oliver Leiber, son of R&B songwriter Jerry Leiber of Leiber & Stoller. Brian has also released two solo records, Mondo Magneto and This Way Up, both engineered by Joe Zook, who has worked with The Hives and Katy Perry. Gibson Guitars recently honored Brian with a signature guitar, the “Brian Ray ‘63 SG”, which has been played onstage by artists like Angus Young, Rick Nielsen, and Slash.