J. Raymond Lavoie

J. Raymond Lavoie: Actor, Musician, Recording Engineer/Producer, Singer/Songwriter, Voice-over Actor/Impressionist J. Raymond Lavoie was born in Ottawa, Ontario and has diversified musical influences including The Beatles, the Monkees, the Zombies, Rush, Neil Diamond, Gordon Lightfoot, David Bowie, AC/DC, Neil Young, the Bangles, the Police, U2, Max Webster, Styx, the Osmonds, Our Lady Peace, Aerosmith, and many, many others (even classic music). His listening habits vary, as he feels "a great song is just that: great." As a young boy, he enjoyed the complexities of TV programs, and figured one of the major things he wanted to do in life was some kind of entertainment. Not yet able to play an instrument, acting seemed like quite a natural aspiration, with William Shatner, David McCallum, and Adam West as some of his favourites. He was also fascinated by the diverse vocal talents of Mel Blanc on the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, and impressionist Rich Little, and constantly practiced mimicking the expressive cartoon voices. Ray started guitar lessons when he was twelve, and within a year was entered in the Canadian Amateur Music Pagent, where Ray won the Gold medal as a soloist and a Bronze medal in a duo. By age of fourteen, Ray had already written dozens of his own songs and was quite serious about learning about music and all the technical elements behind the scenes. In high school, Ray's band "Random" won the talent competition (judged by then Chez 106 radio personality Jeff Shute) with a "polished, energetic performance" consisting of Ray's original songs. Also while in junior and senior high school, he was in a various drama productions, some co-written by the students, some licensed school play adaptations, including the school play "Our Town" where he played "Simon Simson". After High School, Ray attended Trebas Institue of Recording Arts, solidifying his skills in record production and engineering. In 1990, Ray was with the "Gutterboys", who independently released a double "A" sided 7" vinyl record and toured Eastern Canada. The Gutterboys also played the Universities and clubs in Ottawa, often being seen on stage at Barrymore's. Throughout this time, Ray was involved with a number of musical projects, recording and performing on a series of independent cassettes that sold successfully in local record stores, with styles ranging from Synth Pop ("The Maenad Project") to Spinal Tap inspired Metal Parody ("Överdöse"), as well as releasing a solo cassette. In 2001, Ray recorded, produced, and mixed his first CD on digital equipment. He was a part of the band "Formerly Unknown" as singer, songwriter and guitar player, and their debut CD came out in 2002 (though they had previous cassette releases in the late 90's). Ray has been active with them throughout the years to present. Around 2009, Ray met up with Brett Kelly, and over the next few years was able to play a role in his small budget Direct-to-DVD movie "Rockland" (as well as play on and digitally mix the songs for that movie). He then did what amounted to a cameo in "Thunderstorm: The Return of Thor", and composed/performed/recorded/mixed the theme song for "Hell at my Heels". Over the years, in addition to recording and producing projects for various local bands, Ray has played bass, keyboards, percussion, harmonica, and drums, as well as singing and continuing to entertain with vocal impressions. Still looking for fun and creative opportunities, in addition to recording, producing and performing music, he is also interested in small movie, web, or commercial acting roles, as well as voice overs and character voices for animation or video game projects.