Fay Ray were a Welsh new wave band who were active from 1979 to 1982. The band formed in Bangor in north-west Wales in 1979 and despite rumours to the contrary were not named after the dog of photographer William Wegman.
The band was signed by producer Nigel Gray to his Surrey Sounds label, and they released a single, "Family Affairs", in 1980.
The single "Family Affairs" was one of three records of the week selected by Lynden Barber in his "Essential Buys" column in Melody Maker; the other two being "Reward" by the Teardrop Explodes and "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" by the Passions. However, as a small independent label, Surrey Sound did not have the distribution network in place to capitalise on this success; it was not in the shops to buy.[1]
photo of Contact You CDs
It did, however help spark the interest of Fred Hyam of Elektra Records. Following a chance meeting with the band's prospective manager at the annual MIDEM record business festival in 1981, Fay Ray were then signed to WEA. The band recorded their debut album Contact You with Gray and it was released in 1982, preceded by the single "(Waiting for the) Heatwave". Two music videos were made for songs from the album, "Heatwave" and "Modern Lovers".
The band also recorded two live performances of "Heatwave" and "Contact You" in summer 1982 at the BBC Television Centre as part of a show made about music in Bangor, Gwynedd by the BBC Community Programmes Unit and The Gwynedd Union of Musicians.
Despite some commercial success in the US and in Europe, including an appearance on episode 71 of Germany's Musikladen (the German equivalent of the UK's Top of the Pops) on 20 May 1982,[citation needed] sales of Contact You in the UK were poor.[citation needed] A second album had already been recorded but was not released when the label dropped the band. Disillusioned with the music business, the band split up shortly afterwards.
In 2018, due to increased attention to their music via the Internet, the band reissued a remastered Contact You on CD,[2] with five bonus tracks and new sleeve notes.
Band membersedit
Sheila Macartney – lead vocals, guitar, organ, tambourine
John Lovering – guitar
Jeff Taylor – saxophone, accordion, flute, backing vocals
Tony Travis – bass, backing vocals
Owen Hughes – drums
Referencesedit
^John Lovering; guitarist & songwriter; CD album notes
^Martin, Andrew (19 October 2018). . North Wales Chronicle. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
band, topic, this, article, meet, wikipedia, notability, guideline, music, please, help, demonstrate, notability, topic, citing, reliable, secondary, sources, that, independent, topic, provide, significant, coverage, beyond, mere, trivial, mention, notability,. The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia s notability guideline for music Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention If notability cannot be shown the article is likely to be merged redirected or deleted Find sources Fay Ray band news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2019 Learn how and when to remove this message Fay Ray were a Welsh new wave band who were active from 1979 to 1982 The band formed in Bangor in north west Wales in 1979 and despite rumours to the contrary were not named after the dog of photographer William Wegman Fay RayOriginBangor WalesGenresNew waveYears active1979 1982LabelsSurrey SoundWEAElektraPast membersSheila Macartney John Lovering Jeff Taylor Tony Travis Owen HughesWebsitefayray wbr co wbr uk The band was signed by producer Nigel Gray to his Surrey Sounds label and they released a single Family Affairs in 1980 The single Family Affairs was one of three records of the week selected by Lynden Barber in his Essential Buys column in Melody Maker the other two being Reward by the Teardrop Explodes and I m in Love with a German Film Star by the Passions However as a small independent label Surrey Sound did not have the distribution network in place to capitalise on this success it was not in the shops to buy 1 photo of Contact You CDsIt did however help spark the interest of Fred Hyam of Elektra Records Following a chance meeting with the band s prospective manager at the annual MIDEM record business festival in 1981 Fay Ray were then signed to WEA The band recorded their debut album Contact You with Gray and it was released in 1982 preceded by the single Waiting for the Heatwave Two music videos were made for songs from the album Heatwave and Modern Lovers The band also recorded two live performances of Heatwave and Contact You in summer 1982 at the BBC Television Centre as part of a show made about music in Bangor Gwynedd by the BBC Community Programmes Unit and The Gwynedd Union of Musicians Despite some commercial success in the US and in Europe including an appearance on episode 71 of Germany s Musikladen the German equivalent of the UK s Top of the Pops on 20 May 1982 citation needed sales of Contact You in the UK were poor citation needed A second album had already been recorded but was not released when the label dropped the band Disillusioned with the music business the band split up shortly afterwards In 2018 due to increased attention to their music via the Internet the band reissued a remastered Contact You on CD 2 with five bonus tracks and new sleeve notes Band members editSheila Macartney lead vocals guitar organ tambourine John Lovering guitar Jeff Taylor saxophone accordion flute backing vocals Tony Travis bass backing vocals Owen Hughes drumsReferences edit John Lovering guitarist amp songwriter CD album notes Martin Andrew 19 October 2018 Fay Ray back on stage to celebrate re release of 80s album North Wales Chronicle Archived from the original on 19 October 2018 Retrieved 15 February 2019 External links editDiscography on Discogs Contact You album playlist on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fay Ray band amp oldid 1178725917, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
