Gentle Giant cofounder Ray Shulman has died, aged 73

Ray Shulman – a multi-instrumentalist greatest identified for his work within the seminal prog-rock band Gentle Giant – has died on the age of 73.

His passing was confirmed on Saturday (April 1) by his brother and Gentle Giant bandmate Derek, who wrote in an announcement on Facebook: “I am deeply saddened to announce that my younger brother and my best friend Ray Shulman passed away on March 30th at his home in London.”

According to Derek, the late Shulman “bravely battled a long illness” and died with household at his aspect. “At least I know he is now at peace,” he wrote, praising Ray as “such a kind and caring soul” who “really was a genius in so many ways”. 

“[Ray] will be deeply missed by the music community as a whole,” Derek added. “More importantly, I will miss him as my brother and truly my best friend. He leaves behind his wife Barbara Tanner [and] his older brother Philip. To all who knew Ray or know of him, ‘Think of him with kindness.’”

A Portsmouth native, Ray was born on December 8, 1949. He, Derek and brother Phil – the latter two born in Glasgow earlier than the household headed south – had been inspired by their father, a military musician who later carried out as a jazz trumpeter, to be taught a number of devices. Ray and Derek began a band collectively within the early Sixties, galvanised by their curiosity in conventional R&B. Phil initially served as a casual supervisor and considerably of a caretaker for the youthful pair, however later discovered a task within the band itself.

The trio initially carried out as The Howling Wolves, then The Road Runners, earlier than re-debuting themselves as Simon Dupree And The Big Sound in 1966. Derek took on the titular moniker, with Ray largely taking part in guitar and violin (and sometimes trumpet) whereas he sung backing vocals. That band – which briefly featured a younger Elton John on piano – was dissolved on the flip of the century, with the brothers rising bored with its soul-imbued pop route.

From there, the Shulmans fashioned Gentle Giant as an ambitiously advanced prog-rock mission, with their modus operandi (as per the liner notes of their 1971 album, ‘Acquiring The Taste’) being to “expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular”. Their self-titled debut album arrived in 1970, with 10 extra following over the subsequent decade (their final being 1980’s ‘Civilian’).

The band was notably profitable within the mid-Seventies, charting at Number 78 with their sixth album, 1974’s ‘The Power And The Glory’, and at Number 48 with ‘Free Hand’ the next yr. 

After Gentle Giant broke up in 1980, Ray saved lively as a producer, linking up with such acts as The Sugarcubes, The Sundays, The Trash Can Sinatras and The Defects. He later went on to launch two EPs of trance music, working beneath the moniker Head-Doctor, and scored unique music for video video games like Azrael’s Tear and Privateer 2: The Darkening.

In his Facebook publish, Derek stated of Ray’s distinctive musical skills: “He was an incredible composer, musician, music producer [and] tech wizard. He was a true artist and preferred to stay in the background and let his body of work speak for him rather than talk about himself… More recently he devoted his tech and musical expertise in authoring and remixing other artists.”