Ray von Schmalz

Ray von Schmalz is a German-Brazilian multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and songwriter, with over four decades of Canadian influence, having held Canadian Permanent Resident status for ten years. Today, he is also a German citizen.

Born on April 1, 1966, Ray had an early start in the music world and at age 15 he was already writing songs. At 18 he formed a band called NOW, and from 1985 to 1992, he wrote almost 200 songs, winning a music contest that earned him a music contract, which he had to turn down on account of his immigration process to Canada. All in all, he enjoyed a fair share of success. However, due to pressing problems in his personal life and business commitments, Ray had to leave the music scenario and resume his other careers as a civil engineer and linguist.

Almost thirty years later, an opportunity came up for Ray to finally publish 12 of those songs written mostly in the 1980’s, and his first album, Shadows of the Past, was born. Recorded from March to November of 2019, Shadows of the Past brings a small sample of the creative production of that era and is part of a major musical project that will eventually bring to the public songs written during other phases of Ray’s nonstop songwriting journey all the way to the present.

Shadows of the Past made its debut in February of 2020 on a British radio station, ARFm, on Colin Noble’s Unsigned radio show as the featured album. This opportunity came after Ray was contacted by a British music magazine and had his interview published in the U.K.

Ray von Schmalz currently lives in the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil with his wife and two children, where he owns an English-language school and his very own home studio.