is a Scottish singer and guitarist, vocalist in the post-grunge band Stiltskin and in Genesis from 1996 to 2000.
Before starting a band called Guaranteed Pure in the 1990s, which featured himself along with Paul Holmes (keyboards), Steve Wilson (guitars), John Haimes (bass) and Chris Cavanagh (drums)., he joined Edinburgh Band Strategy in 1987 recording and independently releasing a demo titled Second Move. Guaranteed Pure released an album called Swing Your Bag, the title track of which was included on a compilation album on the label of Fish entitled The Funny Farm Project : Outpatients '93. He then joined Stiltskin; they released one album, The Mind's Eye (1994), and had a No. 1 UK hit in May 1994 with the single "Inside".
Wilson joined Genesis as the band's lead singer after Phil Collins officially announced his departure in March 1996. Genesis founder members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford were handed a CD of the Stiltskin album The Mind's Eye from Virgin Records executives. They were impressed with Wilson's vocal abilities and had their manager, Tony Smith, contact him for an audition. Wilson was announced as the new lead singer of Genesis in June 1997. Their only album with Wilson, ...Calling All Stations..., was released that September and became a top 10 worldwide hit, except for the U.S. where it reached No. 54 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The album was re-issued in 2007. Genesis toured Europe in winter 1997 spring 1998, but the American leg was cancelled due to low ticket sales. The band went on an extended hiatus after the critical failure of the album.
In 1999, Wilson released the album Millionairhead with a solo project called Cut_. It was remastered in 2007 with three additional songs added.
In 2003, he released a solo album under his own name entitled Change. The next year, he released another studio album entitled The Next Best Thing, which included a new version of the Stiltskin hit "Inside". In 2006, he released another Stiltskin album called She, and in 2007 a Stiltskin live CD featuring (amongst others) 8 of the 12 songs from She. This live CD was recorded 25 October 2006, at Harmonie, Bonn, Germany.
DJ and trance producer Armin van Buuren has produced remixes of the songs "Another Day" (retitled "Yet Another Day") and "Gypsy" from Millionairhead. Both remixes have been respectively released on van Buuren's own albums 76 and Shivers, and "Yet Another Day" was also released as a single.
In 2014, the first Ray Wilson biography, Gypsy, by journalist Mario Giammetti, was published in Italy (Edizioni Segno).
In June 2016, his new solo album Song for a Friend was released, which included ten unreleased acoustic tracks with a cover of Pink Floyd's "High Hopes." The original idea for the album title was Backseat Drivers. It was to be a double album. Wilson wanted to have one CD with acoustic music and a second CD with electric music. He then decided to split the two. In an interview he explained the decision was taken because the acoustic version of Song for a Friend would not have got the attention it deserves] The second disc (the electric and rockier collection of new songs) was later released in September of the same year as a stand-alone new album called Makes Me Think of Home.
On 7 and 8 September 2018, Wilson gave two exclusive concerts in Poznań at Zamek Culture Centre to celebrate his 50th birthday.[8] Those two special nights titled "50th Celebration Birthday Concerts" saw Wilson performing only Genesis (and band members) material during the first night, while his solo material from his various projects (solo, Stiltskin and Cut_) on the second date. This was the first time he played a full concert without any Genesis songs since his tenure with the band.
