We recently connected with Sue Ray and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sue thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was fortunate to be born into a musical family, my father was in a band and ran a musical instrument store. So going out on weekends to see his band play and go to gigs really planted a seed. It’s always what’s felt most familiar, I honestly couldn’t imagine not having music and performing being a part of my life and career. I think the definitive moment was when I was about twelve, I did my first solo performance at a local fair, and I got paid, it was the first time I felt true agency over myself. I got to do something I loved and make money from it. And that was that! Decades later, and I’m still making a living from performing and my music.

Sue, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Being raised in a musical family was a real blessing, as it set the foundation for my choice to pursue music. To earn an income from music, I’ve had to diversify my skill set and be creative in the way I can make a consistent living wage. Yes I write and perform my own music, but I also have written songs for TV and ad campaigns. I teach song writing and performance classes to young First Nations students in schools and universities. I am in a backing band for a successful Australian First Nations artist Kutcha Edwards, where we tour regularly. I also work in a music store and also for a music organisation in Brisbane Australia called QMusic as a First Nations support officer. So my life is very hectic, but I love what I do and am grateful for all the interesting facets of what I do. As a mentor for young emerging First Nations artists, the problems I encounter is firstly their struggle with confidence and access to support for their craft. I aim to offer not only technical training, but also encouragement and support and work to help them make industry connections that can help them in their journey. I’ve studied sound engineering, acting and song writing, so that combined with over twenty years of experience gives me a unique perspective and the skills to help others. I’m also proud of the fact that being neurodivergent with ADHD, I’ve been able to calve the career I have whilst encountering various personal struggles. I’ve just released a new single “Same Train” and being an independent artist, I’m proud of the fact that I was able to not only participate in the recording, but also mix and produce the track and release it myself. Some days are a real struggle for me on many levels, but music brings me back to myself and reminds me who I am, and any success I have is further encouragement that I am capable and talented and able to prove to myself and others that are struggling with any form of neurodiversity or anxiety that anything is possible. That is what I’m most proud of!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think that the creative arts is not only important, it’s integral to a healthy society. The past few years have proven to be very difficult for so many creative workers as access to performing in public and interacting with fans has been hindered, which means one of our main income streams has been impacted. The ways that I think society can support artists and creatives is quite easy, and can even be free. Simply sharing artists music on their social media so it can reach more people, engaging with artists on their social media accounts to help increase their visibility, streaming their music and other such activity can really help us. Then if you have the money, go to gigs, buy our records, or if you can’t go to a gig, maybe purchase that artists music online to help support them. If an artists is performing in your town and selling tickets, buy a ticket in advance, as these days many venues are cancelling gigs if there isn’t enough pre-sale tickets and that is one of the biggest negative things occurring at the moment. Many show cancellations are occurring which not only affects the artist, but also the venues are not able to be sustained and some are closing down. My home town has had three venues close down in the past year as people simply aren’t going out as much, and artists are not able to tour. This scares me, as if this keeps happening, what does the future hold for all of us? Without new artists being nurtured via performing in front of people from when they emerge, then where will they hone their craft and build their skill set? We can’t expect all new music to be made in bedrooms and released direct to market without ever having been performed to a live audience. So I encourage everyone, if you do just one thing a day to support an independent musician, just stream their music, it doesn’t have to cost you money to do these small things to help us continue to do what we do, then you’re already making a big difference.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When covid struck, my main income stream was performing live. Suddenly I couldn’t leave the house and I was in a really financially difficult situation. So having kids and rent to pay I had to pivot my idea of what making money from music meant. I contacted a syncing agent and asked if she had any songs needed for TV commercial etc. Long story short, I started writing songs to be pitched for use in ad campaigns and was successful with a song that was used in a QLD tourism campaign. That showed me I was capable of making money with my existing skills in a way that I hadn’t before felt inspired to explore. So I think that although it was a difficult time filled with adversity and anxiety, it also was the kick up that ass I needed to explore other revenue streams. I also started doing vocal lessons and song writing workshops online on Zoom and that has been a very surprising and rewarding experience for me. I’ve learned that if anything may happen that might restrict me from performing again, that I’m still capable of using my creative skills to earn a living in other way, and that provides me so much relief.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sueraymusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sueraymusic/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sueraymusic
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/sueraymusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sueraymusic
• Other: https://sueray.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
first live pic was by Red Handed Productions second pic by Ruwan Desilva