Ray Wilson

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Ray Wilson
Ray Wilson at Leamington Spa 2006
Background information
Born	(1968-09-08) 8 September 1968 (age 43) Dumfries, Scotland
Genres	Rock, post-grunge
Occupations	Singer, guitarist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, harmonica
Years active	1993–present
Labels	InsideOut Music, Virgin
Associated acts	Stiltskin, Genesis, Cut_, Guaranteed Pure, RPWL, Scorpions
Website	www.raywilson.co.uk

Ray Wilson (born 8 September 1968, Dumfries, Scotland) is a Scottish musician, best known as vocalist in the post-grunge band Stiltskin, and in Genesis between 1996 and 1998.^[1]

Wilson started off in a "band" called Guaranteed Pure in the early 1990s. They released an album called Swing Your Bag, the title track of which was included on a compilation album on the label of Fish entitled The Funny Farm Project : Outpatients '93. He then joined Stiltskin; they released one album and had a number one hit in the UK with the single "Inside".

Wilson is probably best known as the lead singer of Genesis from 1996 to 1998, after Phil Collins officially departed in March 1996. Founding Genesis members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford were handed a CD of the Stiltskin album The Mind's Eye from Virgin Records executives. They were very impressed with Wilson's vocal abilities and had their manager, Tony Smith, call him for an audition. Wilson was officially announced as the new lead singer of Genesis in early June 1997. Their only album with Wilson, ...Calling All Stations..., was released that September and became a top 10 hit worldwide, except for the U.S. where it reached #54 on the Billboard 200 album charts; it would soon become the first Genesis album to be deleted in North America, but was re-issued in 2007. Genesis toured Europe in the winter and spring of 1998, but the American leg was cancelled due to low ticket sales. After the commercial failure of the album, the band announced they would go on an extended hiatus, and Wilson left the band.

Wilson went on to release the album Millionairhead with a solo project called Cut_. It was re-released in 2007 (remastered) including three additional songs. But still no sales ensued.

In 2003 he released a solo album under his own name titled Change which failed to make an impression on the charts in any country. The next year he released another studio album entitled The Next Best Thing, which included yet another a cover of "Inside". In 2006 he released another Stiltskin album called She (which failed to chart anywhere), and in 2007 a Stiltskin live CD featuring (amongst others) 8 of the 12 songs from She. This live CD was recorded 25 October 2006, at Harmonie, Bonn, Germany.

DJ and trance producer Armin van Buuren has produced remixes of the songs "Another Day" (retitled "Yet Another Day") and "Gypsy" from Millionairhead. Both remixes have been released on van Buuren's own albums, and "Yet Another Day" was also released as a single. No chart positions ensued.

Wilson is the cousin of Ian Wilson, better known as Ian Catskilkin, of the UK indie band, Art Brut.

Discography

Solo albums

• 2001 Unplugged (renamed Live and Acoustic)
• 2003 Change (album) - #88 Germany
  • "Change" (single)
  • "Goodbye Baby Blue" (single)
• 2004 The Next Best Thing
  • "These Are The Changes" (single)
• 2005 Ray Wilson Live (live)
• 2006 An Audience and Ray Wilson (live; limited edition CD and download)
• 2008 Propaganda Man
• 2009 Genesis Klassik: Ray Wilson and the Berlin Symphony Ensemble live in Berlin (live)
• 2011 Genesis Classic: Live In Poznań (live)

The only studio album cover versions Wilson has done are "Space Oddity" by David Bowie on the Cut_ album, Millionairhead and "Inside" from Stiltskin on his 2004 solo effort, The Next Best Thing.

Guaranteed Pure

• Swing Your Bag -

Genesis

• 1997 Calling All Stations - #2 UK, #54 U.S.

Stiltskin

• 1994 The Mind's Eye - #12 UK, #11 Germany, #10 Austria, #76 Netherlands, #13 Sweden, #13 Switzerland,
  • "Inside" (single) - #1 UK, #5 Germany, #2 Austria, #9 France, #7 Netherlands, #5 Norway, #4 Sweden, #5 Switzerland, #40 Australia, #20 New Zealand
  • "Footsteps" (single) - #34 UK, #34 Switzerland, #36 New Zealand
  • "Rest In Peace" (single) - #47UK
• 2006 She
  • "She" (single)
  • "Lemon Yellow Sun" (single)
• 2007 Stiltskin Live (live)
• 2011 Unfulfillment^[2]

Cut_

• 1999 Millionairhead
  • "Another Day" (Germany only single)
  • "Millionairhead" / "Sarah" (radio promo)
• 2007 Millionairhead (UK edition)

Colloborations

• 2000 "Big City Nights" (with Scorpions) (Moment of Glory)
• 2002 "Love Supreme" Turntablerocker (Smile)
• 2003 "Good Time Love" (with Amanda Lyon) (A tribute to Frank Miller: various artists album)
• 2003 "Yet Another Day" (with Armin Van Buuren) (76) - #70 UK, #34 Netherlands
• 2005 "Gypsy" (with Armin Van Buuren) (Shivers)
• 2005 "Roses" (with RPWL) (World Through My Eyes)
• 2005 "Roses (live)" & "Not about us (live)"(with RPWL) (Start The Fire: RPWL Live)
• 2010 "Should I Wait" with Twentyeight) (In The Beginning)

References

External links

• Official website
• Ray Wilson on Myspace
• picture gallery - Ray Wilson & Stiltskin live in Poznan - Jacek Bakutis
• Ray Wilson & Stiltskin official Polish forum
• Interview
• Guitars 101
• Chapter and verse review