Bill Ray has been playing drums since the beginning. Finding his father’s drums at 15 months old and discovering the power of 2 & 4, his purpose on this plane of existence was set in motion at the age of four, having seen the local drum guru perform a drum solo at his parents’ photography studio in Jackson, MS.

In 1989 a move to California was inevitable, and taking gigs of any musical style turned out to be a fertile training ground. In 2001 Ike Turner offered BR the gig and as he said many times “Billy Ray is the drummer of my soul”. Bill played with Ike on up to the end of his life and played on his 2007 Grammy Award winning album “Risin’ With The Blues”. Bill also holds over 150 other album credits to his career in all styles of music from Rock to Jazz, Country, R&B, Funk, and Eclectic “experimental” styles.

Bill has been playing with guitar virtuoso legend Paul Gilbert and has appeared on his last three releases “PG30”, “Behold Electric Guitar” “Werewolves of Portland” (appears on Japanese release “bonus track”), and the new “DIO” album.

As well as playing for PG, BR has been doing some recording with avant-garde maestro Marcelo Radulovich and guitar great Mike Keneally (Beer For Dolphins/Frank Zappa) on a collaborative project yet-to-be-titled.