"Showtime At The Apollo is arguably the toughest schedule in television." Quoted directly from music, television and film industry pioneer Suzanne De Passe, who trusts Ray Chew as Musical Director for the challenging show. The schedule's tenacity can be attributed to the varying degrees of performers - non-professional talent, children, and high profile artists - as well as the location of the acts throughout the country. But this type of intensity is second nature for Ray, who learned early on how to juggle writer, arranger and pianist duties with NBC's "Saturday Night Live" band during the Eddie Murphy years.
Ray's thousands of hours in recording sessions as an Arranger, Producer and Keyboardist honed his ability to translate a producer or artist's concepts into music. His name and trademark sound are stamped on hundreds of top selling albums, which have earned him 22 gold and platinum record awards with legendary artists including Diana Ross, Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Teddy Pendergrass, Grover Washington Jr., Deniece Williams and Ashford and Simpson. He has arranged and played on hundreds of jingles and various commercials as well.
Ray's current work includes arranging for - and performing and recording with today's biggest talents - including Alicia Keys, John Legend, Missy Elliot, Jessica Simpson, Brian McKnight, Yolanda Adams, Ruben Studdard and Angie Stone. He is currently credited as String Arranger on the Grammy Award winning album "The Diary of Alicia Keys". Ray also arranged and conducted a full orchestra for Alicia Keys' performance of "If I Ain't Got You" and coordinated the performance of "Georgia" during her segment with Jamie Foxx and Quincy Jones during the 47th Annual Grammy Awards show in 2005.
Ray's most recent television work includes an appearance during VH-1's Save the Music concert - benefiting the Save the Music foundation. For the show Ray created and conducted the specially formed Save the Music Children's Orchestra - a 12 piece string section that played with Alicia Keys' during her performance of "Karma". He also formed and conducted a special string section for the Mariah Carey / John Legend performance of "With You I'm Born Again".
Ray's most grand scoring and arranging work to date was with Alicia Keys' during her "farewell" Diary Tour performance at L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl. There he conducted a 60 piece orchestra for a special DVD presentation to be released in 2006. He also joined Alicia for the last three shows of her Diary Tour conducting and arranging for a 35 piece orchestra in Las Vegas. His latest string arrangements can also be heard on the upcoming CD release and MTV performance of "Alicia Keys Unplugged", forthcoming album release of J Records artist Mashonda ("January Joy") and season 4 of American Idol.
In addition to these specialty performances, Ray maintains his 12 year tenure as Musical Director for the Apollo Theater Foundation, recently acting as co-producer and musical director for their first annual spring benefit concert - where he produced once in a lifetime performances by Gerald Levert, Boyz II Men, Vanessa Williams and BeBe Winans.
Ray also serves on the Board of Governors for the NY chapter of NARAS and co-chairs their Education Committee. But it's at his state of the art recording studio - Vision House - where Ray is able to create and write the arrangements that compliment the music of various artists. Vision House maintains the latest in software and hardware with a live room including a Baldwin Grand Piano, Roland V-Drums, Pro-Tools HD, Logic Audio and a host of gear and programs. There, Ray has also recorded three albums of his own - Chew (Capitol Records), Blue Crystal (Hush/Sony) and Feelin' It (Charu) - and is currently working on a new CD for release in 2007.
