Ray Toro

Raymond Toro, born on July 15, 1977 in Kearny, New Jersey.Holahan, Catherine. "My Chemical Romance is too big for New Jersey's basements" Ray once was filmed helping two fans out after a show in Birmingham, England. The fans were lost after missing their train. The Record (Bergen County), October 12, 2005. Accessed December 13, 2007. "Part of the reason Toro might feel so nostalgic for Kearny and Belleville, where he and his band mates grew up, is they have been home for a total of about four weeks since releasing their major label debut, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, in June 2004." Toro is the lead guitarist and one of two backup vocalists for My Chemical Romance.  He plays Gibson Les Paul guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups through Marshall amplifiers. He helped form the band in 2001 after reconnecting with frontman Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier.

When he was younger he enjoyed the music of Queen,  Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer and he cites Brian May and Randy Rhoads as large influences on his playing. Toro has said that he grew up listening to his brothers rock albums and has always wanted to play the drums, though he sticks to guitar with My Chemical Romance.

On April,13 2011, #SINGItForJapan was released as an effort to raise money for Japan after the tsunami. This project was started when Toro was inspired by kind words from their fans, and he went on to arrange much of the instruments to create a sound that closely emulated traditional Japanese music.

References

Other websites

 My Chemical Romance official website
 Ray on MCRRmy.com 

 Interview with Ray Toro  at Seymourduncan.com
 Ray Toro profile on NNDB

Category:1977 births
Category:Living people
Category:My Chemical Romance members
Category:American guitarists