SIMONDRAY.COM
PRESENTS
PRESENTS
SIMON
DRAY
French Singer Songwriter
You are listening to "Symphonie pour une morpionne" from the Album
"Tous les Jardins du monde" By Simon Dray
Vous écoutez "Symphonie pour une morpionne" de l'Album
"Tous les jardins du monde" par Simon Dray
French Singer Songwriter
You are listening to "Symphonie pour une morpionne" from the Album
"Tous les Jardins du monde" By Simon Dray
Vous écoutez "Symphonie pour une morpionne" de l'Album
"Tous les jardins du monde" par Simon Dray
1149 Willow Road, Suite #6
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-325-DRAY (3729)
Cell: 650-823-2228
sd@fc-productions.com
simondray@simondray.com
simondray@doglover.com
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-325-DRAY (3729)
Cell: 650-823-2228
sd@fc-productions.com
simondray@simondray.com
simondray@doglover.com
Simon
Dray touts himself as the only
French-American singer-songwriter in the Bay Area
Simon Dray knows he deserves to make it big.
And he's not afraid to admit it.
"They say if you can do it, you're not bragging about it,"
he said during an afternoon coffee at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park.
"I might not sound good saying it,
but I don't know a lot of other French people around
who do what I do with the same intensity and consistency.
I haven't heard anyone around singing with the quality that I do."
After more than 25 years in the Bay Area singing his own songs
and others' in French and English
-- with 20 of those years spent hosting and producing a
French-American radio show for the
University of San Francisco's KUSF -- Dray has earned the right to brag.
The 56-year-old transplant from Bordeaux, France,
has been strumming his guitar
and belting out tunes in the Bay Area since
he moved to San Francisco in 1976.
A self-trained musician, Dray has produced four of his own CDs
and performed scores of gigs around the area.
He currently performs regulary at Café Borrone and the BBC in Menlo Park.
Now if only Dray could get the musical break he's been waiting for.
"You know when you get to the spot of being
frustrated as an artist," he said.
"You know you have what people want and you know you want to give it.
I'll be 57 next month, but I can still see myself signing
with a record company and taking it from there."
Dray, who writes material in French and English
and adapts American songs to French,
considers himself the only French-American songwriter in the Bay Area,
and said there is a lack of recognition for bilingual singers like himself.
"There's a lot of songwriters in France
and they remain completely unknown in America
-- and these are big stars in Europe," he said.
"That's why I want to be the French-American singer around here.
I'm trying to develop this music for people.
Dray cannot exactly put his finger on the genre
of music he plays ("I'm kind of a pop-rock-blues singer,")
but he said his style is virtually extinct both in America and France.
under a hat from his large collection
("I don't know why I wear them -- I used to have long hair,
but you have to change a little")
has worked part-time at Radio Shack,
obtained a computer science degree from Heald College,
and even lent his distinctive French voice to a George Lucas IMAX movie
("Niagara, Miracle, Myths and Magic") in 1986 --
all in the pursuit of financing his music career.
He currently works part-time behind the counter at
Old Knickerbockers Tobacconist in Menlo Park.
"I've got a passion, but unfortunately when you're an artist with
a passion or two, you've got to survive," he said.
Dray started playing guitar on the streets of Paris
after he moved away from home at age 15.
He left France to work as an entertainment programming director
at Club Med resorts worldwide,
earning two of the chain's vacationer-comment-card-elected
"Oscars" for shows he produced.
"It's actually very prestigious, it's quite a recognition,
and I did it twice," he said.
When some friends talked about driving cross-country
from New York to California,
Dray could not refuse going along.
"When you're a musician in Europe in my generation
and you go to rock festivals,
all you hear about is California," he said. "We stopped in San Francisco,
I pulled out my guitar at Fisherman's Wharf and started playing,
and the people loved it. I said,
'My God, this is America. Here I stay.' And I did."
Dray knew no English when he took a job at a San Francisco bistro,
and introduced his songs by reading off index cards
a friend wrote for him.
Many hard-studied episodes of "M.A.S.H." later,
Dray finally picked up the language and
has been promoting bilingualism ever since.
"People were laughing at me when I tried to read English --
they loved it," Dray said.
"They thanked me for trying to communicate.
I'm 100 percent for bilingualism in any country. It's very important."
Dray took an opportunity to promote bilingual singing
when the host of KUSF's French radio show
asked him to fill in for a few weeks 20 years ago.
He now hosts and produces the two-hour
"FM French Connection Bistro," which airs once every three months
and features musical guests and a little of Dray's own music.
"After 20 years, you get a following but if I would play every week,
people would get bored," he said.
Dray is currently most excited for a statewide solo tour
he's planning to begin in mid-September,
organized around branches of Alliance Française,
an association devoted to promoting French culture in America.
Dray said he is confident that despite his self-professed advancing age,
the tour will be a success.
"I still rock and roll," he said."I don't techno,
but I rock and roll . . . so to speak --
I don't roll all over the stage, but I've got good stuff."
Which is why it's finally time for that big break, he said.
"When it comes to me, I'm not modest anymore.
I know what I'm doing and I'm proud of what I'm doing.
I've been here for long enough I'm almost a native.
It's time for people to notice me."
Dray recently joined forces with the group FAZZ, originally specialized in
flamenco JAZZ : Two fabulous musicians,
Farzad Arjmand on lead guitar and Andy Woodhouse on bass.
The new combination of Simon songs and Fazz arrangements
was acclaimed by the public
during their most recent appearances at Café Borrone in Menlo Park
which turned out to be an unforgettable summer time concert.
They also produced a single on CD, POSEZ LES ARMES, lyrics and music by
Simon Dray and arrangements by FAZZ.
French-American singer-songwriter in the Bay Area
Simon Dray knows he deserves to make it big.
And he's not afraid to admit it.
"They say if you can do it, you're not bragging about it,"
he said during an afternoon coffee at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park.
"I might not sound good saying it,
but I don't know a lot of other French people around
who do what I do with the same intensity and consistency.
I haven't heard anyone around singing with the quality that I do."
After more than 25 years in the Bay Area singing his own songs
and others' in French and English
-- with 20 of those years spent hosting and producing a
French-American radio show for the
University of San Francisco's KUSF -- Dray has earned the right to brag.
The 56-year-old transplant from Bordeaux, France,
has been strumming his guitar
and belting out tunes in the Bay Area since
he moved to San Francisco in 1976.
A self-trained musician, Dray has produced four of his own CDs
and performed scores of gigs around the area.
He currently performs regulary at Café Borrone and the BBC in Menlo Park.
Now if only Dray could get the musical break he's been waiting for.
"You know when you get to the spot of being
frustrated as an artist," he said.
"You know you have what people want and you know you want to give it.
I'll be 57 next month, but I can still see myself signing
with a record company and taking it from there."
Dray, who writes material in French and English
and adapts American songs to French,
considers himself the only French-American songwriter in the Bay Area,
and said there is a lack of recognition for bilingual singers like himself.
"There's a lot of songwriters in France
and they remain completely unknown in America
-- and these are big stars in Europe," he said.
"That's why I want to be the French-American singer around here.
I'm trying to develop this music for people.
Dray cannot exactly put his finger on the genre
of music he plays ("I'm kind of a pop-rock-blues singer,")
but he said his style is virtually extinct both in America and France.
"Most people in France, even
the
street performers,
are rap and techno," he said.
"My style's not 'yo' and all this rap stuff. I'm an endangered species,
a guy playing a good song with rhythm and lyrics."
The jovial Dray, whose round face is most often seenare rap and techno," he said.
"My style's not 'yo' and all this rap stuff. I'm an endangered species,
a guy playing a good song with rhythm and lyrics."
under a hat from his large collection
("I don't know why I wear them -- I used to have long hair,
but you have to change a little")
has worked part-time at Radio Shack,
obtained a computer science degree from Heald College,
and even lent his distinctive French voice to a George Lucas IMAX movie
("Niagara, Miracle, Myths and Magic") in 1986 --
all in the pursuit of financing his music career.
He currently works part-time behind the counter at
Old Knickerbockers Tobacconist in Menlo Park.
"I've got a passion, but unfortunately when you're an artist with
a passion or two, you've got to survive," he said.
Dray started playing guitar on the streets of Paris
after he moved away from home at age 15.
He left France to work as an entertainment programming director
at Club Med resorts worldwide,
earning two of the chain's vacationer-comment-card-elected
"Oscars" for shows he produced.
"It's actually very prestigious, it's quite a recognition,
and I did it twice," he said.
When some friends talked about driving cross-country
from New York to California,
Dray could not refuse going along.
"When you're a musician in Europe in my generation
and you go to rock festivals,
all you hear about is California," he said. "We stopped in San Francisco,
I pulled out my guitar at Fisherman's Wharf and started playing,
and the people loved it. I said,
'My God, this is America. Here I stay.' And I did."
Dray knew no English when he took a job at a San Francisco bistro,
and introduced his songs by reading off index cards
a friend wrote for him.
Many hard-studied episodes of "M.A.S.H." later,
Dray finally picked up the language and
has been promoting bilingualism ever since.
"People were laughing at me when I tried to read English --
they loved it," Dray said.
"They thanked me for trying to communicate.
I'm 100 percent for bilingualism in any country. It's very important."
Dray took an opportunity to promote bilingual singing
when the host of KUSF's French radio show
asked him to fill in for a few weeks 20 years ago.
He now hosts and produces the two-hour
"FM French Connection Bistro," which airs once every three months
and features musical guests and a little of Dray's own music.
"After 20 years, you get a following but if I would play every week,
people would get bored," he said.
Dray is currently most excited for a statewide solo tour
he's planning to begin in mid-September,
organized around branches of Alliance Française,
an association devoted to promoting French culture in America.
Dray said he is confident that despite his self-professed advancing age,
the tour will be a success.
"I still rock and roll," he said."I don't techno,
but I rock and roll . . . so to speak --
I don't roll all over the stage, but I've got good stuff."
Which is why it's finally time for that big break, he said.
"When it comes to me, I'm not modest anymore.
I know what I'm doing and I'm proud of what I'm doing.
I've been here for long enough I'm almost a native.
It's time for people to notice me."
Dray recently joined forces with the group FAZZ, originally specialized in
flamenco JAZZ : Two fabulous musicians,
Farzad Arjmand on lead guitar and Andy Woodhouse on bass.
The new combination of Simon songs and Fazz arrangements
was acclaimed by the public
during their most recent appearances at Café Borrone in Menlo Park
which turned out to be an unforgettable summer time concert.
They also produced a single on CD, POSEZ LES ARMES, lyrics and music by
Simon Dray and arrangements by FAZZ.
Visit
FC-Productions.com, French Connection website:
Last revised, April 16 2006
©Simon Dray 2005
© FC Productions 2005