His name is Ray

Ray St. Ray leans on his trusty cab. Credit: Isa Giallorenzo

“Entertainer, street philosopher, raconteur. I cruise the streets like a wandering knight seeking people to save from time and space, and perhaps life itself,” says Ray St. Ray, 70, accurately describing his iconic persona. “I’m in the business of creating the legend of ‘the Singing Cab Driver’ for people to cash in on with an interesting story to tell. That makes your life more interesting—now what you do with that is up to you,” he adds. 

Elusive as legends should be, St. Ray is not available upon demand: “If you already know about me, you’re already in the club. I got to find people who don’t,” he says. To add to his aura of mystery, St. Ray doesn’t allow recordings of his cab performances; as he explains, “When you record something, you’re not experiencing the thing, you’re experiencing recording something.” In that same vein, St. Ray is not a huge fan of social media, stating that he is a “one-on-one, real-life kind of person.”

St. Ray claims to have entertained an audience of more than 100,000 passengers since he started driving his cab in 1991. It all started when he “got a kick” out of singing during a New Year’s Eve gig, making him realize he wanted a career in showbiz. “At that point in my life, I was already almost 40. I had to pay child support to two ex-wives for two little daughters I loved very much who lived in two suburbs far from each other and from where I lived. I was unemployed, I couldn’t play any instruments, and had never been in a band before the evening I made this decision. I’m not gay, not Jewish, I’m not even Canadian. Under these circumstances, success in American showbiz ain’t happening overnight. I need a plan, and that plan better include a day job with flexible hours, no career commitment, daily cash flow, and a large insured company car to go see the kids in,” St. Ray reminisces. 

At first, he started singing to his passengers to promote the shows with Chameleon World, the band he played with for over 20 years. When the band broke up ten years ago, he decided to pursue a solo career as the Singing Cab Driver.

St. Ray considers his songs to be “the yellows—the opposite of the blues. Happy, snappy, up-tempo music for people who can still think and hear, or at least dance,” he says. “I just write songs in whatever style fits, but my influences are 60s pop and old movie music, like James Bond themes.” He writes about “love, sex, social significance, and dreams,” which he calls the four topics of life. 

Ray St. Ray’s neckwear is known as a “western bowtie.” This particular tie is made from ribbon with a polka dot pattern. Ray gave his jacket an extra touch by adding a jaunty pocket square. Credit: Isa Giallorenzo

He is currently writing a script for an upcoming podcast called Future Man Versus The Wrong Side of Enough, “a musical manifesto about the theft of our future. We used to be people who shared and achieved dreams. Now we spend much of our time arguing over which nightmares are more worthy of attention. Our future has been hijacked. Basically big money has been buying the governments and changing the rules in their favor. Both parties are working for the same groups of people competing for control of our society,” he says.

To deal with the ways of the world, he adopts the philosophy of “riding the razor’s edge of giving a shit.” “If you care too much, there will never be a shortage of people who need you, your money, your attention, your help. But if you don’t give a shit, you are an asshole, and you’re just adding to the misery of the universe. I think the secret of happiness and living a long life is to ride the razor’s edge between the two.”

This attitude might have helped during some reversals of fortune St. Ray has encountered, such as the advent of ride-hailing apps (just before COVID hit, he was making so little money he thought he would have to quit driving). Still, he always looks impeccable, like a modern dandy superhero with plenty of flair. 

“It’s my effort to make yours a more beautiful world, starting with my image in the mirror,” he says. St. Ray thrifts most of his garments, but he always looks for quality, yet costumey stuff. 

“I enjoy an anachronistic look—something like in the 1920s, or from an old cowboy movie, or detective novels, like pulp fiction,” he says. “My purpose is to live the life that I would want to read a book or see a movie about. I’m living that life, and it’s a musical—which is even better.”

Find more music and info at singingcabdriver.com

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