Ray Wilson (musician)
Raymond Wilson (born 8 September 1968[2]) is a Scottish singer and guitarist, vocalist in the post-grunge band Stiltskin and in Genesis from 1996 to 2000.[3]
Early career and Stiltskin[edit]
Before starting a band called Guaranteed Pure in the 1990s, which featured himself along with Paul Holmes (keyboards), Steve Wilson (guitars), John Haimes (bass) and Chris Cavanagh (drums).[4], he joined Edinburgh Band Strategy in 1987 recording and independently releasing a demo titled Second Move.[5] Guaranteed Pure released an album called Swing Your Bag, the title track of which was included on a compilation album on the label of Fish entitled The Funny Farm Project : Outpatients '93.[1] He then joined Stiltskin; they released one album and had a No. 1 hit in the UK with the single "Inside".
Concerts with Steve Hackett[edit]
In 2013, Wilson joined Steve Hackett for the latter's Genesis Revisited II Tour as a guest singer. He was featured in a special edition of the Genesis Revisited II album on the track "Carpet Crawlers". It was the first time since 1998 that Wilson had worked with a fellow Genesis member, albeit one he had not performed with as a member of the band.
Personal life[edit]
Wilson is the cousin of Ian Wilson, better known as Ian Catskilkin, of the UK indie band, Art Brut.
Ray met his future wife Tyla Holmes in 2000 (she is the sister of Paul Holmes, the keyboard player in Wilson's then-band Guaranteed Pure). They started dating, and married in 2002. She began working as his assistant, and then tour manager. They separated at the end of 2006 but remained good friends, with Tyla keeping her managerial role even after the ending of their relationship. She later left the music industry and concentrated on a career as a personal trainer in Australia.[10]
In 2007, after a concert in Poland, Wilson met the dancer Małgorzata Mielech, also known as Gosia. After a few months of dating, he left Edinburgh and moved to Poznań in September 2008.[11][12] To celebrate their lasting love, in 2016 Ray wrote a song for Gosia entitled "Not Long 'Til Springtime": she appeared as main actor in the official video of the song. As of 2018, the couple were engaged.[13][14] Despite Wilson being reluctant in showing and talking about his personal life, he and Gosia gave a major interview with an exclusive photoshoot showing the duo together for the famous Polish magazine "Pani" in August 2018.