Ray Graffia Jr. (New Colony Six) Interview (7/6/24)
Ray Graffia Jr. is an American singer/songwriter who fronted the late 60’s Chicago pop/rock band New Colony Six. In 1964 the original members were Ray, Gerry Van Kollenburg (guitar), the Kemp cousins, Craig on organ and Wally on bass, Pat McBride (harmonica) and Chic James on drums. In 1966 Ronnie Rice (vocals, keyboards, guitar) would replace Craig Kemp. There were many other lineup changes to come over the years. The group started out as a garage band launching the Chicago Rock Revolution. The late 60’s would find the band settling into a more mellow sound with soft ballads. From 1966 to 1971 the band was at its peak in popularity with 10 singles in the Hot 100. In 1988 the band played a reunion show in Chicago and have been playing together ever since. I must be making my rounds in Chicago as not long ago I visited with Curtis Bachman of The Buckinghams and more recently with Tom Doody of The Cryan’ Shames.