About Ray Greene

Ray Greene is a singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist living in Columbia, South Carolina. He received a degree in Music Performance from the world-renowned Berklee College of Music.

Being brought up in the shadows of the great Soul/R&B legends of our time, Ray is equally adept at the traditions of Gospel, Jazz and Blues.

He has performed and recorded with many of the most successful and influential names in the fields of Pop, Funk and Soul; most notably Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, the Isley Brothers and Rick James, to name a few.

Ray was selected from among several candidates around the country to serve as lead singer/trombonist for legendary Soul band Tower of Power, where he served for two years traveling throughout the US and Canada, as well as performances in Europe and Japan.

He was then asked to join famed guitarist and Woodstock performer Carlos Santana, where he currently travels extensively to places all over the world; from Dubai, Singapore and Australia, to Monaco, Mexico and South Africa. Santana’s music has been a tremendous showcase for Greene’s abilities as a vocalist, trombonist and percussionist.

Greene has written and produced several recordings of his own music. Along with his band Universal Language, he received a Boston Music Award for their music entitled “One People.” His album titled “All About Me/All About You” was released in the UK and received rave reviews. His first ever Gospel recording, “Songs of Hope, Inspiration and Joy”, was met with commercial and critical success. He released a follow-up recording of Gospel inspired material titled “Heaven Bound”, which features soul-stirring renditions of “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”, “Last Mile Of The Way”, and “Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone.”

His voice has been featured in commercials for Converse sneakers (with former basketball superstar Magic Johnson), ESPN, Cadillac Motors, Bose speakers, Fox Television, and Walt Disney Productions.

Ray has been asked to perform the National Anthem for many major league and college sporting events. The Boston Red Sox baseball team, the New England Patriots football team, the New England Revolution and the Boston College football and basketball programs have enlisted his services. The San Francisco Giants invited him to perform the “Star Spangled Banner” during a recent baseball championship playoff run.

His music and voice have been heard regularly on the daytime soap operas “The Young and the Restless” and “One Life to Live.” He is the featured performer on the HBO documentary “Legacy”, which was nominated for a Grammy award.

The legendary Maya Angelou recruited Greene to perform a capella renditions of her favorite inspirational hymns to open an engagement at the Boston Opera House.

Greene has most recently signed a licensing and recording deal with Ubuntu Records in the UK. His recording entitled “Stay”, will be released in the Spring of 2023, and will feature songs he wrote and produced specifically for the styles of Soul/R&B music. He will embark on his first ever solo tour to Europe to support the release of the recording.

Biography

Patrik Jansson, singer, guitar player, drummer, composer and producer, was born in the small town of Gävle in the middle of Sweden. He started playing drums at an early age and in his early twenties he moved to Stockholm to study music and pursue a career in the music business. He also started playing piano, bass and guitar and got more and more into songwriting and playing the blues.

Patrik Jansson Band was formed in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden in late 2007. After playing drums in various blues bands and jazz combos, hard-rock and metal acts for several years, Patrik decided it was time for another challenge. He picked up the guitar and started playing and singing in hopes of developing as a songwriter and a musician. “I’ve always loved to learn new things” he says. With a passion for heavy Texas blues and with a new mission in life he started looking for musicians to play with. “I had a pretty clear idea of what I was looking for” he says, “I wanted to play blues with a more modern approach. Blues is supposed to feel fresh and alive, it’s a most vital music in my opinion. In short I wanted to play the kind of music that I would like to hear myself and that I think a lot of other people would like and appreciate”.

In the beginning of 2011 PJB released their self-titled critically acclaimed debut album on the Sneaky Foot Records label and they played extensively all over Sweden. The music could best be described as a mix of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter and Buddy Guy to name a few of the early influences.

After some line-up changes it was time to start writing songs for the follow up to the debut album and in late 2013 the band entered the studio to record “Here We Are” (2014) their second full length album. With guest appearances from Mikael Fall (harmonica world champion 2013) and the great Swedish female blues singer Lisa Lystam, “Here We Are” is an album full of great songs and great performances. Blues News, Germany wrote, ”Yes, this CD has style, charm, that certain something and if someone asked me for track to play, I would say: play the whole album! Again and again!”. Blues News, Norway rated the record 5 out of 6 and the American Blues Blast Magazine wrote, ”Patrik Jansson Band announces “Here We Are” with as much vigor as the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan”.

2015 it was time for another lineup change when drummer Martin Forsstedt, bass player Thomas Andersson and organ player Gustaf Andersson joined the band and late 2016 they hit the studio to record So Far To Go. The wide range of the new material was a clear statement that PJB didn ́t have any limitations for their music and following their own recipe they once again proved that they knew what they were doing. The album is full of melodic blues and blues-rock where influences of classic Chicago and Texas blues like the music of B.B. King and Freddie King is fused with the more modern soul, blues and blues-rock of Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Bonamassa. It was released in august 2017 and once again the critics were delighted. Blues Blast Magazine, U.S.A. wrote ”Guitar based rock and blues-rock doesn’t get any better than this. From the high energy cuts to the slow pensive moods this music deserves to be heard.” and Blues Magazine, Netherlands wrote ”There is just no bad song on this album. Only high quality bluesrock!”. ABS Magazine, Franc ”This singer, guitarist, composer and producer of Swedish origin has an indisputable talent to play the blues” and BluesNews, Germany gave the album 5/6 saying ”Now, Jansson has delivered the sequel to "So Far To Go" and I'm just as excited as then. Why? Because he once again made his version of the classic Freddie and B.B King just like the followers Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Bonamassa”. So Far To Go got a lot of airplay on radio in U.S.A, Australia, U.K. Italy, Spain and Poland.

2018 PJB completed their second successful European tour and a did several festival appearances, including one at the Grolsch Blues festival which was recorded and broadcasted nation wide by the German Deutschlandfunk radio.

In 2019 Gustaf Andersson was replaced by Lars Ericsson, a piano player with extensive jazz and blues background giving the band a more sophisticated sound and it was time once again to enter the studio to record the fourth album simply titeld IV released October 2, 2020. Once again the focus has been on great song writing with melodies and arrangements aimed to capture the listener, but this time there´s been a more scaled down approach to the arrangements with no horn or string sections added. The goal was to make a more live sounding album like the classic heavy blues albums of Albert King and Buddy Guy but mixed with influences of contemporary blues masters like Joe Bonamassa, Walter Tout, Jeff Healey, Robben Ford and Gary Moore. The result is a music feast for fans of electric blues, blues-rock, Chicago blues & heavy contemporary blues.

A lot has happened since the start in 2007 and since the first record, and it becomes even clearer when you listen to the new record. It’s a heavier, darker and more mature band you'll be hearing. "I´ve put a lot of time and effort into making this record and I really try to make my music mean something. I try to write songs that make you feel something, songs that matter and I believe we're gotten closer to that goal with every new record and I think you will hear it when you have a  listen”.

HOT`N´NASTY BLUESROCK AT ITS BEST!

Hot`n´Nasty existiert bereits seit Beginn der 90er Jahre und gehört zur ersten Liga der deutschen Blues- und Rockszene.
Die aktuelle Besetzung besteht aus Gründungsmitglied Malte Triebsch (Gitarre), Robert Collins (Gesang), Dominique Ehlert (Schlagzeug) und Tim Gressler (Bass).

Blues and soul become inextricably entwined in award-winning singer-songwriter, Kyla Brox, whose raw talent has seen her described as “the finest female blues singer of her generation”. Winner of the UK Blues Challenge 2018 and the European Blues Challenge 2019, voted Best Female Vocalist in the 2019 European Blues Awards and semi-finalist in the International Blues Challenge 2019 and 2020, Kyla Brox is at the very top of the UK Blues scene.

Daughter of cult blues figure, Victor Brox, the Mancunian vocalist began her career as a teenager in her father’s band and has now honed her own sophisticated sound, as heard on her last two critically acclaimed and award-nominated albums, Throw Away Your Blues and Pain & Glory, which reached No.1 in the IBBA Charts for 2019 and was nominated Best Album in both the European and UKBlues Awards.

Her voice; tender, urgent, gritty, blurring the distinction between pleasure and pain, mixed with the enchantingly fluent guitar work of Paul Farr, inspired bass playing of Danny Blomeley and in-the-pocket drumming of Mark Warburton, combine to make a unique and powerful, often joyous, always emotional experience.

Kyla also plays in duo form with her husband, virtuoso acoustic guitarist, Danny Blomeley, whose playing, by turns delicate and unrestrained, has earned him a following in his own right.

A completely independent artist, Kyla has built her career year on year; starting out at grassroots with local pub gigs and growing to headlining concerts all over the globe, including some of the most prestigious Blues festivals in the world.

With thousands of albums sold and a constantly growing fanbase, Kyla Brox is widely regarded as one of the very best soul-blues singers the British Isles has ever produced.