About
Also known as: Ray Linch
Ray Lynch built his reputation on new age music that he himself refused to fully claim as new age. A guitarist, lutenist, and keyboardist, he first made a name performing Renaissance music in New York before moving to California, picking up an ARP Odyssey synthesizer, and quietly reinventing himself as an electronic composer. His 1984 album Deep Breakfast became a landmark, the first independent new age release to go Gold, and eventually Platinum, largely on the strength of word of mouth and Lynch selling copies out of his own apartment. The track "Celestial Soda Pop" got wide exposure as bumper music on NPR's All Things Considered. His follow up No Blue Thing hit number one on Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart and even cracked the Top 200 overall. Lynch won Billboard's Top New Age Artist award in both 1989 and 1990. After a legal battle with his label Music West over unpaid royalties, he moved to Windham Hill and wrapped his recording career with Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening, a classical leaning album featuring members of the San Francisco Symphony. He stepped away from music in 2000, releasing his own back catalogue independently.