Ray Tabano
Ray Tabano (a.k.a. Crazy Raymond) (born December 23, 1946 in The Bronx, New York, US) is a musician who was a founding member of Aerosmith in 1970. Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford in 1971, at which time he concentrated on maintaining the band's office, hangout, and recording studio, "The Wherehouse". Tabano started the band's fan club and line of merchandise, designing and selling merchandise himself and writing the band's fan club newsletters. He was fired in 1979, by Aerosmith's managers Steve Leber and David Krebs. Friendship with Steven Tyler. Tabano was a childhood  friend of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler in their hometown of Yonkers, New York. They would eventually form into Steven's first band, The Strangeurs. The Strangeurs. Originally called the Strangers, the Strangeurs added a "u" to their name to avoid confusion with another band called the Strangers. The band consisted of Ray Tabano on bass guitar, Steven Tyler on drums, Green Mountain Boys member Don Soloman on keyboards and vocals, Peter Stahl on Guitar, Alan Strohmayer on bass, and Barry Shapiro on drums. The Strangeurs played in the local area as a cover band. The band focused on Top  40 hits and earned a steady wage as a party band around the New England area. After Aerosmith. As of September 2009, Tabano was running a catering company in Yonkers, New York. In 2014, Ray was featured on an episode of "Pawn Stars" where he sold two prototype Aerosmith tour T-shirts to Rick Harrison. One was signed by the band; the other had both Tyler's & Tabano's names on the sizing tag. Ray originally asked $3000 for both shirts, but after having them appraised for about $2400, Rick bought them for $1100. In 2018, Ray  was featured on an episode of "American Pickers" where he authenticated an International Harvester Metro Van as having been used by Aerosmith in the early days of the band's career. The van was purchased by the show's Mike Wolfe for $25,000, after which the van was restored on behalf of the band, who then bought it back.