Raymond Adrien Dalton (born May 10, 1990) is an American singer based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. He began his career as a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and R&B singer. Dalton gained prominence as the featured artist on

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were an American Hip hop music, hip hop duo from Seattle, Seattle, Washington, formed in 2009 by rapper MacklemoreTrust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard (magazine), B ...

' 2011 song "

Can't Hold Us "Can't Hold Us" is a song written and performed by American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring American singer Ray Dalton, originally released on August 16, 2011, as the second single from the duo's debut album '' The Heist'' (2012 ...

", which gained popularity between 2012 and 2013, eventually topping the charts in multiple countries including the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was certified platinum in the U.S. in April 2013. He has won two

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

Life and career

Dalton's mother is

Mexican American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...

and his father is

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

. He began singing at the age of 6 on the advice of his music teacher, joining the Seattle Children's Choir. He continued to sing through high school. He has described himself as a fan of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

. Dalton spent his senior year in high school listening to

Missy Elliott Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971), also known as Misdemeanor, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her musical career as a member of the Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group 4 All the Sistas Arou ...

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman. With over 30 million records sold worldwide, she was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix ...

, and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, according to an interview with

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

. Aside from music, Dalton is a tennis player who has worked as a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

instructor. He gave up teaching tennis following the success of "

" to pursue a full-time career as a musician. Dalton sings in the Total Experience Gospel Choir of Seattle as of 2013. Dalton's work drew the attention of producer

Ryan Lewis Ryan Scott Lewis (born March 25, 1988) is an American musician and record producer based in Seattle, Washington. Along with producing his own album, ''Instrumentals'', Lewis produced the albums ''The VS. EP'' (2009), '' The Heist'' (2012), and ...

, who had heard Dalton's singing on a song for another artist. Lewis reached out to Dalton via

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Dalton soon began collaborating with Lewis and

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist rele ...

in the studio. The first song the trio worked on together was Macklemore and Lewis' 2011 single, "

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

". In June 2012, Dalton released his first single, "So Emotional", which was mixed by Lewis. He also announced he was working on his "own project" to be called ''The Dalton Show.'' Dalton, Lewis, and Macklemore created the hook for "Can't Hold Us" in one day. Dalton shot his scenes for the single's

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

while on tour in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in March 2013.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

As lead artist

Guest appearances

Notes

References

External links

*
Ray Dalton
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Ray 1990 births Living people African-American Christians American gospel singers African-American male singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers American contemporary R&B singers MTV Video Music Award winners Singers from Seattle American musicians of Mexican descent Alternative hip-hop musicians Singer-songwriters from Washington (state) Hispanic and Latino American musicians