Ray had Nos sister, he was an only child.
>
>lets see, ray was a zeppelin head and always remained
>one. although in 1978 when he started playing in a
>cover band with my brother. He got turned onto music
>that would be his major influences for life. They were
>Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale and Ronnie james Dio.
>
>There's a classic story of me and my brother driving
>to a party and we see ray outside the house talking.
>My brother called him over and made him listen to an 8
>track tape we had of deep purple the california jam.
>It was glenn Hughes singing solo during smoke on the
>water. That changed ray forever. From That moment on
>he listened and learned from Deep purple with the
>Coverdale/Hughes line-up and the early rainbow Albums
>with Ronnie james Dio.
>
>I remember one gig they were doing lady of the lake by
>rainbow, one part in the last verse ronnie hits a
>D...all day long ray kept telling me he was gonna hit
>that D. he never did hit it that night, but as we all
>know, he went on to hit many D's in his life.
>
>He also started listening to alot of paul rodgers from
>the Free albums. He loved Free live. great album.
>
>he did like movies, I remember one night in 1989 at
>his apartment in NYC we were discussing movies with
>his girlfriend and my girlfriend. the movie beaches
>was meantioned and both our girlfriends laughed at
>Ray and I admited we always cry when that movie comes
>on. The theme song wind beneath my wings made us
>both cry. Till this day it is still hard for me to
>hear that song.
>
>I think Blu mentioned rays eyes...Yes, there was
>something very magical about them. ray had a very rare
>quality about him. Everywhere he went, everyone wanted
>to be near him. Kind of like a jesus quality, it was
>very strange. NO, i am not comparing ray to
>Jesus..Just an example.
>
>Cindy, you are asking alot about his death...I
>appreciate and I'm sure rays family will appreciate
>your interest and love for ray. But does it really
>matter about the details of his death? ray didn't want
>any of his friends to see him sick at the end, he
>wanted us to remember him young, healthy and full of
>life. I do know that after he said his last words to
>his mom, he smiled..then passed on.
>
>the only thing that ray was very annoying about, was
>keeping his music. It's so frustrating...he had none
>of his own music in his possesion. he would give you
>the tape when it was done if you bothered him to
>remember it. I always got most of everything from
>him...except the Blue Murder demos.. I still never
>heard them and wont rest untill I do.
>
>If you wanna hear some of rays favorite singing songs
>get the Butterfly ball. ray used to make me make him a
>copy of it atleast every 2 years. Not the whole album
>just these songs if anyone is interested. Get
>Ready....Behind a Smile...Sitting in a Dream....Love
>is All..Watch out for the Bat.. and Homeward. these
>song had a big influence on him. He sang these songs
>to practice alot. They were very special songs to him.
>
>Well, good to help answer things you may wanna know
>that i can help with. feel free to e-mail me if anyone
>wants.
>
>Frank Aziza
