Biography
Born in Decatur, Georgia, Amy Ray met Emily Saliers when they both attended the same high school. They began performing together and recorded a demo in 1981. After graduation, Ray and Saliers went to different colleges with Ray attending Vanderbilt University. By 1985, both women had transferred to Emory University in Atlanta and formed the Indigo Girls. In 1986, Ray graduated from Emory with majors in English and Religion.
In March 2001, Ray released her first solo album, Stag, a southern and punk rock album. The Butchies, a punk band whose members include Kaia Wilson, Melissa York, and Alison Martlew, provided support for five songs, and Joan Jett played on "Hey Castrator". In April 2005, Ray released the softer edged Prom, and in December 2006, she released Live from Knoxville. Her fourth solo album, the melodic Didn't It Feel Kinder, was released in August 2008. Lung of Love, which has more of an indie-rock sound, was released in 2012.
Her backup band for her Stag tour was The Butchies. In 2004, when she embarked on her Prom tour, she brought Les Nuby (guitar), Will Lochamy (drums), and Jody Bleyle (bass). Bleyle was replaced with Tara Jane O'Neil in October because Bleyle was on maternity leave. Ray's back up band for her 2012 Lung of Love tour was The Butchies. Jenn Stone, former keyboard player for Ke$ha, also performed on the tour.
Ray currently lives in the foothills of North Georgia.
Read more about this topic: Amy Ray
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)