FutureMusic: Lana, at what point did you have the realization that you had a special singing voice?
Lana: I can’t pinpoint an exact moment when I had a realization that I could sing, it was just always my absolute favorite thing to do. I was obsessed with it as a kid and still am. I remember begging my mom for voice lessons, but she made me wait until I was 8 years-old. After my first lesson at Peggy Still School of Music in Atlanta, GA, my teacher came out and told my mom, “She’s going to be a singer one day.” Peggy is still a dear friend and mentor to me.
FutureMusic: Ray, you’ve faced many trials and tribulations on your journey to be a Grammy Award winning artist. Can you discuss how you got your start producing/engineering?
Ray Ray: Well, I grew up in a very hostile house. My father was a very talented musician, but also had a drug addiction. That resulted in him abusing us for most of our lives until my mid-twenties. I always played in bands and tried to stay out of the house as much as possible. I played bass for gospel choirs, school band, punk rock bands, emo bands, even a European Power Metal band that allowed me to tour overseas. Anytime I had an opportunity to play music in my life, I would drop everything I was doing and run to it. I would even quit multiple jobs when I was young when Kevin would call me to play bass on an artists album at the studio. But as soon I would return home, it was back to complete chaos.
My Dad allowed me to discover my gift for music, so I always believed I could save him with it, but one day it went too far and became too much. He was attacking my mother and I snapped. I remember hearing the screaming and the dishes shattering from him throwing them at her as I ran down the hallway. As I got closer to the mayhem, I turned into an animal and my instincts took over and I…
…freed my family that day from his abuse. From that day forward, everything changed. I would only see him one more time again after that episode when I was at court getting a restraining order against him for my family. We had 90 day PFA from him so we had 90 days in the house to pack our stuff and find somewhere to live.
We all pulled together and found a home to rent while we figured things out. Unfortunately, nothing was working out for me with music, with life, with jobs, with anything. I was really struggling and felt I was truly lost. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew if i stayed where I was, I would become nothing and my life would be meaningless.
So I called my friend Kevin Geigel who at the time was head engineer at a studio in Queens, New York and told him I had no where to go in life and all I wanna do is make music. I’m either going to NYC or LA, so I figured I reach out to him first. He told me, Ray I don’t have any where for you to stay, but come to New York and intern at my studio, as well as be a session musician for clients, you never know what can happen.
Knowing my family was finally safe and I didn’t have to be there to protect them, I knew it was time to go. So I sold everything I owned, packed my bags into my car, said goodbye to my family, and took a big leap of faith. To try and become who I knew in my heart I was meant to be. I had to leave behind the people I loved most in life and go to somewhere with no where to live and no guarantees.
I started as an Intern and began sitting next to my friend and mentor Kevin Geigel every day for the next to years. I lived in my car in front of the recording studio in Queens until one day one of the studios I was working at, gave me closet with an air mattress that would now become my home. It was especially fortuitous because my car got repo’d the day before.
I would then study and learn from every producer and engineer that walked in the building. How to produce and record in any DAW. I learned Logic X, then Protools, then eventually learned FL Studios, and now I use all three to produce all my music.
One day Kevin decided he didn’t wanna record anymore and only wanted to mix, so he looks at me and goes I quit and you’re hired. Your first sessions tomorrow – have fun! The next day I sit down at the console, after all the hours of asking countless questions to anyone who could answer, and I hit that record button for my first session. Right then and there, it hit me all at once. This is it! This is what you’re meant to do!!
Unfortunately, I would later have a crazy falling out with the owners of that studio, which resulted in me losing my home and the last of my possessions. Once again, I found myself with nothing. But in life I learned no loss comes without a gain. And not two days later, I would meet my future wife. I started interning at Premier Recording studios in Manhattan and engineering at Fenix studios in Staten Island at the same time.
I would eventually run into GhostFace Killah at Fenix studios. He walked in the room while I was working on beats and was like “wait you made this?!” And I was like yes sir! He was like “show me everything you got!” Fast forward and we’ve been working together for almost 8 years now, and I won a Grammy working on a song with him, Kendrick Lamar and Summer Walker off of Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers. Next I would release a major album featuring Kanye West, Busta Rhymes and many more – all recorded and some produced by me. As well as Supreme Clientele 2 on the way. Not to mention Lana, and my upcoming Album “Sorry I’m Human.” I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for me next!
