User talk:Craymage

Craymo, singer/songwriter, was born Craig Stephen Raymo in Massena, New York and grew up in nearby Ogdensburg, a quiet little city on the St. Lawrence River bordering Canada. Music seemed to possess his soul from an early age as he had always tried to imitate the singers and bands eminating from his little 45 rpm record player. In 3rd grade he picked up the alto saxophone taking lessons from Kenneth Van Winkle, father of future Grammy winner Dixon Van Winkle. Craymo continued taking lessons and played in elementary, junior and senior high bands, marching band and the school Jazz Rock group. Craig wrote his first song when he was 16. He sang in the school choir from elementary through high school. The young performer craved the stage and graced it every chance he got joining the local vaudeville style minstrel group Showtime. Craymo performed in community theater and high school drama and musical theater productions. As a senior in high school he took interest in DJing and got a job spinning at Big Ed's Dallas Lounge and also at a local radio station WSLB where co-workers first started calling him Craymo. Craymo went to Fredonia State University majoring in Broadcasting with a minor in drama.

Feeling the call of the big city, Craig left college and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams. He soon landed acting gigs in the TV soap operas General Hospital, Santa Barbara and Days Of Our Livess, most recently in the HBO original film Recount. Craymo continued to DJ in nightclubs and was one of the first "video jocks" to beat mix videos! All the while focused on his music Craymo wrote hundreds of songs and started recording demos in Los Angeles recording studios. He auditioned to be the lead singer for several bands but ultimately realized his destiny was to be a solo artist. The determined young man took vocal lessons with R&B great Bobby Womack and recorded a demo of one of his songs. Craymo then met record producer David Longoria who took him under his wing and they recorded his first professionally recorded song Love Touch and filmed his first music video. Then they went on to create several more songs including Craymo's first EP entitled Be My Girl who's title track was licensed in the indie film Paper Thin Immortals. The next video was Take It Slow with a sixties beatnick vibe and the song was licensed in the indie film Accidents Don't Happen. Craymo appeared as a male vocalist on Star Search 89 with Ed McMahan. He formed several backup bands performing at the Whiskey A Go Go, The Roxy, Genghis Cohen and opened up shows for Smashmouth, The Plimsouls and Fishbone. He then met record producer Chris Irwin and recorded several songs in his Malibu studio. Craymo then ran into his old friend, songwriter and producer Brandon Jarrett. They went into the studio and magic happened. Combining their song catalogs into one company, Moho Productions, LLC. They recorded One Love One World which became a worldwide phenomenon being featured on the United Nations project UNESCO web site www.newsongsforpeace.org. School teachers all over the world downloaded the song, taught it to their students who then performed it at their schools in the USA, Canada, China and Australia!

Craymo has been a semi-finalist and finalist in several songwriting competitions including The Australian Music Oz Awards, Unisong, the Hollywood Spiritual Film Festival, UK Songwriting Competition, Pacific Songwriting Competition and the Artist Undiscovered Competition. His songs have been licensed in the indie films Super Southern Sweet Sixteen(theme song), Silly Movie 2(theme song), Accidents Don't Happen, Paper Thin Immortals and Successful Failures 2. Also in television including the original TV film My Dog's Christmas Miracle, The X GamesIV(ESPN), The Orlando Citrus Parade(syndicated/theme song), Sinbad's Reality U (pilot/theme song), Toddlers and Tiaras (TLC) and Chris and John To The Rescue (Canada). His first full lenght CD Cosmos and follow up Cosmos (Singles and Remixes) are available on iTunes. Craymo is currently receiving airplay on commercial and internet radio all over the world including Germany and Japan! His influences include Duran Duran, George Michael, The Beatles, Morrissey, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Elton John, Sting and The Cars. "Pure Pop Fun!" Unicorn Booty.com "Echoes of George Harrison" Broadjam.com "A melancholy sex dream.” Make A Star.com "The New York native brilliantly combines guitar driven modern rock with dance to bring forth a unique pop sound that cannot be explained, but only experienced.” The Industry Resource "Moody and contemporary" Music Connection Magazine “Blur meets Duran Duran” Garageband.com “Makes my blood rock” The Nastyman radio DJ, LA, San Diego, Denver Craymage (talk) 04:39, 24 July 2011 (UTC)