If you are not a dedicated heavy metal fan, you may associate the name Paul Raymond with an entrepreneur who died in 2008. Paul Raymond the musician was born at Saint Albans on November 16, 1945 and began his career in 1964. At that time he was jazz-oriented, but 12 years later joined UFO as a replacement for Danny Peyronel, who was briefly the band’s first keyboard player.
Paul Raymond (1945–2019)
UFO was founded way back in 1968 with Mick Bolton on lead guitar. Not to be confused with singer-songwriter Michael Bolton, he quit the band in 1972 and vanished off the face of the Earth after two unique albums which included some incredible soloing. The hard core of the band though was always lead vocalist Phil Mogg, bass player Pete Way, and drummer Andrew Maynard Parker. Way and Mogg are both Londoners; Andy Parker was born at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.
Paul Raymond joined in what has been called the Schenker era, serving no less than four terms: 1976–80, 1984–6, 1993–9 and 2003 up until his death. The photograph above was taken at the O2 in London on April 5 this year during his last ever performance. As well as keyboards, Paul played rhythm guitar and chipped in with backing vocals. He also wrote and co-wrote a fair amount of material.
It would take more space than allotted here to list all his musical achievements, but for UFO fans and neophytes alike, the Strangers In The Night album must surely be among the most outstanding. Considered by many good judges to be one of the finest if not the finest double heavy metal album ever made, it was recorded in Chicago and Louisville in the autumn of 1978.
Though incredibly he said he was not satisfied with it, Schenker’s improvised solo on Rock Bottom is likely one of the greatest ever recorded, Raymond enhancing it with a race on keyboards. Another very fine album is the much later A Conspiracy Of Stars on which he played keyboards, co-writing The Real Deal with Phil Mogg. Outside of UFO he also played with the Michael Schenker Group and Waysted, the latter with Pete Way.
Off-stage, rock musicians can be temperamental or worse, but trawling through interviews with Paul Raymond, he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy. He was still working outside of UFO at the time of his death, and his official website will doubtless be continued.
The band were said to be in shock and have not commented much at the time. A private person, Paul appears never to have married but is survived by his partner Sandra.
Like another musician who shares his given name, Paul Raymond was left-handed; Paul McCartney is now 76. Recently, the 75 year old Mick Jagger underwent heart surgery for a serious complaint, and today is Ritchie Blackmore’s seventy-fourth birthday. Without wishing to sound the alarm, over the next decade and more, the cream of the finest generation of rock musicians will be with us no longer, but don’t go writing any obituaries yet: Paul appears to have been the first member of UFO to die, Chuck Berry died at 90, and Les Paul at 94.
[The above obituary of Paul Raymond was first published on Medium, April 14, 2019, the day after his death].
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