Ray Toro
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Raymond Toro (born July 15, 1977) is an American musician who serves as lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the band
My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
.


Early life

Toro was born July 15, 1977, in Kearny, New Jersey. He is of Puerto Rican-Portuguese heritage. He grew up in a small house on the border between Kearny and Harrison, New Jersey, which he shared with his parents and two brothers. By the time he entered Kearny High School, he had become interested in music. Toro's brother introduced him to several bands whose guitarists influenced him greatly. He enrolled in guitar lessons, as well as typing lessons to improve his manual dexterity.Haydn, Reinhardt (2008). ''My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life''. London: Plexus Publishing Limited Toro became involved with several local bands, the most successful of which were The Rodneys, who formed in 1994 and released their first and only album "Soccertown USA" in 1997. Future My Chemical Romance drummer Matt Pelissier also played for the band. However, after graduating from high school in 1995, Toro decided on film instead of music. He enrolled in an editing course at
William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...
in Wayne, New Jersey, and his only musical pursuits involved playing drums in the short-lived band Dead Go West. In an interview with ''
Rock Sound ''Rock Sound'' is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, e ...
'', Toro said that "being in a band wasn't really a dream of mine. I always wanted to write music. I enjoy recording more and the process of writing, I never thought that being in a touring band was a possibility. I enjoyed getting a bunch of scenes and cutting it together so it makes sense. I made one short film about a guy who was obsessed with eating eggs every day. He finally opens up this egg carton and there's one egg left, but he can't crack it open, so he gets driven insane." Ray himself has also stated he enjoyed Release the Bats by Pete Wentz.


Music career

Rodney's frontman Shawn Dillon is credited with introducing Toro to Gerard Way in the late 1990s. Toro agreed to work with him and Pelissier in practice sessions, which were primarily held in Pelissier's attic. After Gerard's younger brother Mikey joined the trio as a bass player
My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
was formed. In 2007, Toro appeared as himself in the slasher/horror/comedy movie ''Punk Rock Holocaust 2'', with bandmate
Frank Iero Frank Anthony Iero, Jr. (, born October 31, 1981) is an American musician who is the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist of the rock band My Chemical Romance and post-hardcore band Leathermouth. He is also the guitarist in the metal band L.S ...
. Since My Chemical Romance's third album ''
The Black Parade ''The Black Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released in Europe on October 20, 2006, through Reprise Records, it was produced by the band with Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums fo ...
'', Toro has been compared to
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
guitarist Brian May. He has long cited May as a key influence on his guitar style. As Toro said in an interview: "I appreciate
he comparisons He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
He's one of my favorite guitarists. I just love his work. That guy is capable of everything. He can lay back when he needs to, then writes some of the best leads. He comes up with great harmonies, he's a great singer. To me it's an honor for anybody to say that I play like him or that parts remind them of Queen". My Chemical Romance performed a portion of their 2011
Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
headline concert with May. Toro was the leading force behind My Chemical Romance's #SINGItForJapan project, which was dedicated to supporting those affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan."My Chemical Romance Interview with Gerard and Frank (03.05.2011)". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NviPfsowdfU He arranged much of the instrumentation of the band's original track "Sing" to create a sound that emulated traditional Japanese music. "SINGItForJapan" was released on April 13, 2011, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.
My Chemical Romance My Chemical Romance (commonly abbreviated to MCR or My Chem) is an American rock band from Newark, New Jersey. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, lead guitarist Ray Toro, rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, and bassist Mi ...
has released four studio albums, two live albums, six extended plays, 19 singles, four video albums, 15 music videos, one demo and have 11 original appearances on other albums. The band was working on a fifth studio album before their split. On May 24, 2013, Toro posted a solo song, "Isn't That Something", to his
SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
account. He also stated how the track was entirely a solo effort: "I played everything. Sang everything. Recorded everything. Mixed everything. Myself" via his
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. Later in 2013 Toro joined James Dewees's band, Reggie and the Full Effect for a tour and contributed to his album '' No Country for Old Musicians''. In 2014, Toro provided guitars for
Cuban American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or t ...
dark cabaret singer
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
's tenth studio album, ''
Raised by Bats ''Raised by Bats'' is the tenth studio album by Cuban American dark cabaret singer Voltaire, released in 2014. The album's production was crowdfunded by Voltaire's fans all over the world via a successful Indiegogo campaign; it would reach US$53 ...
''. On January 1, 2015, he released a new song, titled "For the Lost and Brave", on his website, mentioning
Leelah Alcorn Leelah Alcorn (November 15, 1997 – December 28, 2014) was an American transgender girl whose suicide attracted international attention; she had posted a suicide note to her Tumblr blog about societal standards affecting transgender pe ...
, a transgender teen who committed suicide, in the blog post. In an interview with Toro, ''Kerrang!'' magazine described the song's style as "aching
synth-rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...
brimming with y Chemical Romances us-against-the-world spirit" and revealed that Toro intended to release his debut solo album later in 2015; Toro also commented that this was the first time he's ever "written lyrics or songs on isown". On November 18, 2016, Toro released his debut album, ''Remember the Laughter'', after recording it primarily at his home since 2013. On October 31, 2019, My Chemical Romance announced they would be reuniting with a date in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on December 20 and a new merchandise line.⠀They later announced a 2020 North American tour, as well as dates in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The tour was later postponed to 2022 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.


Influences

Toro has cited heavy metal guitarist
Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo alb ...
and
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
musician Brian May as his two biggest influences. As a teenager he was a big fan of
Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo alb ...
because "he was one of the first players I can remember who mixed classical music with a metal and hard rock style of playing, and he did it very tastefully. It was really inspiring." Later he began to listen to classical guitarist Andrés Segovia and
Christopher Parkening Christopher William Parkening (born December 14, 1947) is an American classical guitarist. He holds the Chair of Classical Guitar at Pepperdine University under the title Distinguished Professor of Music. Biography Parkening was born in Los Angel ...
. He admitted to being obsessed with the way in which they would take classical pieces and arrange them for a single guitar resulting in a moving melody and bass lines that work together. Despite declaring to be a "music snob" when it comes to new artists, he praised
Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
's work. He said that he mainly listens to the same music that he did when younger and enjoys the process of discovering harmonies or nuances that he was unable to notice during his youth, gaining a different appreciation for the music. Toro recognizes his older brother as a huge influence, being the person who bought him his first real guitar and showed him how to play it. Toro also credits him for introducing him to bands like
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
,
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
,
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
,
The Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
,
Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...
, and
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
. The first CD he bought was '' Cowboys from Hell'' by
Pantera Pantera () is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas formed in 1981, and currently comprised of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, and touring musicians Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante. The group's best-kn ...
.


Personal life

Toro married wife Christa in November 2008, during My Chemical Romance's break between ''
The Black Parade ''The Black Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released in Europe on October 20, 2006, through Reprise Records, it was produced by the band with Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums fo ...
'' and '' Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys''. They have two sons, one born in September 2012, the other in April 2016.


Discography


Solo albums

* '' Remember the Laughter'' (2016)


Singles

* "Isn't That Something" (2013) * "For the Lost and Brave" (2015) * "I Think You're Really Cool (Ray Toro Remix)" (with Guardin, 2021)


The Rodneys

* ''Soccertown U.S.A.'' (Sellout Soon Records) – 1997


My Chemical Romance

* ''
I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love ''I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love'' (often shortened to ''I Brought You My Bullets'' or ''Bullets'') is the debut studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance, released on July 23, 2002 by Eyeball Records. Produced by ...
'' (2002) * ''
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge ''Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge'' (often shortened to ''Three Cheers'' or ''Revenge'') is the second studio album by American Rock music, rock band My Chemical Romance, released on June 8, 2004, by Reprise Records. With this album, the band produc ...
'' (2004) * ''
The Black Parade ''The Black Parade'' is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released in Europe on October 20, 2006, through Reprise Records, it was produced by the band with Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums fo ...
'' (2006) * '' Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys'' (2010)


Reggie and the Full Effect

* '' No Country for Old Musicians'' (2013)


Production discography

* 2011 – My Chemical Romance – ''iTunes Festival: London 2011'' (mixing) * 2012 – The Architects – Live in Los Angeles (mixing) * 2013 – The Architects – Border Wars Episode I (mixing on one track) * 2019 – Frank Iero and the Future Violents – Barriers (mixing)


References


Notes

#"Teen Titans" – ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' (2005-07-14)


External links


RayToro.comMy Chemical Romance Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toro, Ray 1977 births American people of Portuguese descent American people of Puerto Rican descent American rock musicians Living people Guitarists from New Jersey Kearny High School (New Jersey) alumni My Chemical Romance members People from Kearny, New Jersey People from West New York, New Jersey Songwriters from New Jersey Reggie and the Full Effect members