We recently connected with Grant Ray and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Grant thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
Technically, my first income, as a creative was in my childhood, and not from singing, but rather for my artwork. I was a trained visual artist from a young child, who went to magnet schools. Growing up this allowed me to make money for my artwork in competitions connected to my school. Great experience. I first started recording in the studio at age 12 however, it took quite some time for me to begin to make money as a professional musician. I had the talent from a very young age but I had to hone my craft and my stage presence before I was ready to perform live professionally. I finally began gigging live professionally as a paid entertainer in 2015 for several different bars and venues and never looked back. It was something I was so proud of even though it was just the beginning of the success that would come. The fact that I had no manager, no record label and no agent but rather hustled and got all my gigs myself through blood, sweat and tears just made it all the more worth it for me. I would soon begin doing corporate gigs With wedding bands as well as my own shows for various local restaurants, bars and lounges throughout Miami and Ft Lauderdale and was also hired for studio projects with other local groups. Being that I was already recording and releasing my own studio albums with my producer Armando Doval with 2 under my belt already and performing live all over town I was booked and busy baby! And I have had so many highs and lows since but almost the music business being an unstable income source, It is what I was made to do and I have made it work with my life.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a Miami based R&b/pop singer songwriter and recording artist. I began singing and writing music early on around age 9 to cope with a hellish childhood full of abuse, suffering, poverty, uncertainty and love. My talent and my dreams of being a professional singer kept me alive and kept me on my path away from the dark streets I grew up on. I was a biracial child of a white mother and a black father who was murdered when I was a baby. This I grew up with no father and a struggling but great mother as many of us have. I was also severely overweight and hit a max weight of over 300 pounds as a young teen. I decided the first step of creating a new reality for myself and becoming the young adult I dreamed of was to lose all the weight all of it! And in only a few grueling months of hard work and determination I did just that! I lost over 100 pounds. At age 18 I was ready to hit the ground running and it was time to begin my career as a recording artist. I recorded my first single at age 20 and I was off to the races. I released my first studio album in 2015, won countless vocal competitions, started performing professionally both solo and with various live bands soon after and it was official: I was a professional musician, what I dreamed of becoming.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
The main thing I think non creatives do not understand about the journey of any successful INDIE artist, let’s be clear not a signed artist but a truly indie artist is that we are essentially our own record label. We fund everything and I mean EVERYTHING- from the studio cost to the production cost to the engineers, mastering of the music, music video production cost, photoshoot cost, videographers, photographers, pr, music distribution, media, clothing, make up artists, you name it. It is up to us to come up with the budget for All of it and more. Plus just like normal people we have bills to pay: Rent, mortgage, transportation, health care, food, savings, self care etc. This lifestyle is for the strong only. And I mean the super strong. You gotta be built different to play with the Indie artists. We are the heroes in the industry. No cap.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me the most rewarding aspect of being a professional musician is knowing I took the gift god gave me as a poor little biracial kid from nothing and managed to build a life for myself even if not fully from my music but have used my earnings from my music and my other work as an entrepreneur and businessman to build a life for myself that I am proud of and have managed to survive when many thought I would perish early on given the circumstances I started out in.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://grantraykingdom.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/grantray100
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@THEREALONE52