Ricky Rayband and the Shades

Hometown(s): Richmond, California/ Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Talent:  Artist Management, Song Writer, Music and Video Producer, Guitar/Cuban Tres guitar and Vocals.

Bio:  Rick Ramos aka Ricky Rayband has been a professional musician all his life. He started playing guitar at 7 and performing at 12. At 16 he won a scholarship to the Stan Kenton Music Camp in Northern California. He joined the Richmond High Jazz band shortly after and performed and won various High School Jazz Band Competitions in California and Nevada.

Third Rail and Natural Impulse

In 1973 he put a band together with the lead horn players from the jazz band which became the Third Rail Band (1973 to 1975) then Natural Impulse Band (NIB) (1976 to 1978) and performed as the guitarist with Lady Bianca Thornton through 1978.

Origins of the GTS Band

Rick took a break from music until 1983 when he met T.W. Johnson Jr. and rekindled his relationship with members of Natural Impulse as the GTS band, (Got the Soul). The band became a popular R and B revue playing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rick also played a short time with Little Bruce and the Billionaires where he met lead Vocalist Tommy Nunnelly. In addition, he played about a year with the PHD’s of Pittsburg California.

Ricky Rayband and the Shades

Lou’s Blues club in SF approached Rick with an offer to put together a small R and B act for the club on Saturdays from 12-3pm. It was great fun and Rick grabbed Ramiro Amador (Malo) and Linda Wiggins (Keyboards) to develop a concept around his Ricky Rayband persona.

Latin Soul Project

In 2004, Rick began writing Latin music and traveled to Cuba where he studied Cuban tres guitar from COTO, (Juan de la Cruz Antomarchi Padilla), in Havana. He returned from Cuba to play guitar and tres guitar with Grammy Award winning trumpet player, Julius Melendez. This experience inspired him to create new music that was used on the Latin Soul Project CD, (a mix of GTS and Latin Musicians), which resulted in a tour to Paris and Amsterdam.He produced a cd with 12 songs ranging from Blues to Salsa.

Rick with Coto

Latin Soul project opened for Julio Iglesias at the Reno Cinco De Mayo Festival in 2005. In addition, the band opened for Lou Rawls in 2006 a the Alameda County Fair. 

New Music-New Direction

During the Covid Pandemic with the lack of opportunities to perform, Rick studied recording and producing and began to develop jingles for Radio and Video commercials. He and his new writing partner, Tom Fuglestad, (see his bio) began writing music together to support the music for these projects.

“GTS is going back to our roots and taking original music from Third Rail, Natural Impulse and Latin Soul project, along with new music we just developed, and we are putting together an original show. We will keep doing the R and B revue when it is requested but we have lots of music to share with our community”

Record Deal

In January 2022, Rick signed a two-year record deal with Epsilon Records in the UK to release some of his original music from Natural Impulse.  

GTS Productions- The Mexican Connection

From.2020 to present Rick and Tom have continued to write songs and Rick took the tracks to Mexico where he used searched for Cabo San Lucas performers to collaborate. One of Rick's oldest friend and one of the most gifted pianist in Mexico,  in Diego Ramierez, laid down tracks on Back to the Basics, Rimshot, How can I make you mine and a Salsa tune called Carnitas Cafe. Daline Jones followed that up by laying down the lead vocals on " Back to the Basics", (which will be released in late 2025). Diega has introduced Rick to La Veva in 1019. Veva is a well known actress, singer, choreographer,recording artist and performer with her own band in Cabo. During Covid Rick. reached out to her and she agreed to sign on one of his tunes.  Veva laid down the lead and back ground vocals on "How can I make you mine" due to be released in late 2025. 

 

Ricky Rayband and the Shades in Cabo San Lucas

In an effort to separate the Original Music from Cover tunes, the Ricky Rayband Show has been recycled to share our original music with the community. GTS productions will remain the holding company for our business, but Ricky Rayband  will concentrate on performing our original music. That is not to say we might throw out a cover tune once in a while but the majority of the set will be original. 

GTS productions writing team

Our long time drummer TW Johnson has join the writing team and has made some valuable contributions in 2025. In addition, Victor Cosio a well know Mexican Producer and Musician who plays guitar, drums and sax has become a valuable team player in developing our new sound. 

Ricky Rayband and the Shades performs the original music written by members of the GTS production team. Rick Ramos aka Ricky Rayband has been performing mostly in Cabo San Lucas Mexico establishing this brand and is set for a short tour of mainland Mexico in Spring of 2026. Ricky Rayband will make his debut at the Oakland China Town festival on August 24, 2025. November 9-16, Ricky Rayband will be in Cabo San Lucas with members of GTS to kick off a record release party. See our calendar to get the dates.