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We are thrilled to announce Sugar Ray & the Bluetones' FIVE Blues Music Awards nominations! Their latest Severn CD Evening has garnered nominations as Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album; the band is up for Band of the Year; Sugar Ray Norcia for Instrumentalist - Harmonica; and Michael "Mudcat" Ward as Instrumentalist - Bass.
Singer and harp man Sugar Ray Norcia's career kicked into high gear in 1979 when he formed the original Sugar Ray & the Bluetones with guitar giant Ronnie Earl, and it has stayed there ever since.
Norcia has appeared on nearly 50 albums including discs with the Bluetones, Earl, Otis Grand, Ann Peebles, Michelle Willson, Sax Gordon, Duke Robillard, and his 1999 "Best Traditional Blues" Grammy nominated collaboration with fellow harmonica virtuosos James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Billy Branch called SUPERHARPS.
"Sugar Ray has great tone and great phrasing,
singing and playing the harp. One of my favorites!"
-Charlie Musselwhite
"Sugar Ray is the real deal.
There is nobody better to represent this music." Kim Wilson - The Fabulous Thunderbirds
In the '90s Norcia spent seven high-profile years with the legendary Roomful of Blues. He cut five albums with the group including 1996's TURN IT ON, TURN IT UP, which also received a "Best Traditional Blues" Grammy nod.
Today Norcia's elan and robust tone makes his voice one of the most distinctive, well-defined and recognizable instruments in modern blues.
He continues to tour the world with his durable Bluetones and make acclaimed albums like his fourth Severn release 2007's MY LIFE, MY FRIENDS, MY MUSIC - which drew Blues Music Award nominations for "Album of the Year," "Instrumentalist — Harmonica," " Instrumentalist — Bass" and "Song of the Year" (for "Last Words of a Fool"). That disc's sequel is in the works.
"His approach to the harp is straight from
the heart of Chicago Blues but he's not just recycling Little Walter licks.
Ray is clever and innovative and
he knows how to be flashy without overdoing it."
David B. Watts-The Daily Hampshire Gazzett |
