Ray Tabano (a.k.a. Crazy Raymond) (born December 23, 1946) is an American musician, who was a founding member of the rock band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

in 1970.

Career

Tabano was a founding member of the rock band

, but was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971, after which he managed the band's office, hangout, and recording studio, known as The Wherehouse. Tabano started the band's fan club and line of merchandise, designing and selling merchandise himself and writing the band's fan club newsletters. He was fired in 1979, by Aerosmith's managers Steve Leber and David Krebs.

Steven Tyler

Tabano was a childhood friend of Aerosmith lead singer

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

in their hometown of

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

in New York. The two founded Tyler's first music band, The Strangeurs.

The Strangeurs

Originally called the Strangers, the Strangeurs added a "u" to their name to avoid confusion with another band called the Strangers. The band consisted of Ray Tabano on bass guitar,

on drums, Green Mountain Boys member Don Soloman on keyboards and vocals, Peter Stahl on guitar, Alan Strohmayer on bass, and Barry Shapiro on drums. The Strangeurs played in the local area as a cover band. The band focused on

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hits and earned a steady wage as a party band around the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

area.

Post-Aerosmith

As of September 2009, Tabano was running a catering company in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. In 2014, Tabano was featured on an episode of '' Pawn Stars'', where he sold two prototype Aerosmith tour T-shirts to Rick Harrison. One was signed by the band; the other had both Tyler and Tabano's names on the sizing tag. Tabano originally asked $3,000 for both shirts. After having them appraised, however, he reduced his asking price to $1,400, and Harrison talked him into selling them for $1,100. In 2018, Tabano was featured on an episode of '' American Pickers'', where he authenticated an International Harvester Metro Van as having been used by Aerosmith in the early days of the band's career. The van was purchased by the show's Mike Wolfe for $25,000, after which the van was restored on behalf of the band, who then bought it back.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabano, Ray 1946 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists Aerosmith members American male bass guitarists American people of Italian descent American rock bass guitarists American rock guitarists American male guitarists Musicians from the Bronx Musicians from Yonkers, New York