Ray Wilko started playing the piano at the age of 16. He soon found out, that he wants to hit the strings directly with the fingers and bought himself a Fender Tele a year later. Together with friends Phibe, Xanosch and David he founded a band called Morgenrot.

In 1989 Ray met Cab Strangler who then played the drums in a band called Excuse. Singer/guitarist Peter and Mr. Schmidt along with Cab thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a second guitarist in the band, so Ray joined Excuse.  

After the split of Excuse, Cab, Peter and Ray started the band Harry – and it was Peter who introduced the rest of the pack with (very) young bass woman Reg Fry... Harry produced an EP (Farewell in 1992) and two Albums (Ballyhoo in 1994, Foto Sushi in 1998).

In the meantime Ray started his solo career started in 1996 with the thrilling debut SUBZERO where he played all instruments by himself, cos Ray always loved playing the drums and bass ever since there was a rehearsal room with loads of instruments. SUBZERO already contained a radio hit, that quickly let the media be aware of the things that Ray Wilko would be coming up with.

Shortly after the release of „Foto Sushi“, Harry split up.

Ray went on as a solo artist, with Sam Mumenthaler on drums, Reg on Bass and guitarist Stoo Oversold in his Band. In 1999 it was YOUR OWN PRIVATE that contained the single WHEREVER I GO. This song won a highly regarded prize as "second best song 1999", voted by the major media companies in Switzerland. After finishing this record Cab Strangler replaced Sam on drums.

In 2000 Ray Wilko and his band took off to the US to play the enormous South by Southwestfestival in Austin/TX. They made a three weeks tour in Texas. Back home Ray went back to the writers table and recorded DAKTARI in 02, which scored another hit (NEW DIMENSION) on Switzerlands radio stations. Ray again played a fair bit of the instruments on that record, with Reg, Stoo and Cab plus new member Tommy Knuckles (trumpet, keys, percussion) hopping in for some salty and peppery appearances.

The DAKTARI-Tour was highly successful and had its peak playing the mainstage at Switzerland's top GURTENFESTIVAL. Ray went back to the studio (in a cosy castle in Justiniac, France) shortly after finishing the tour to record his fourth CD PINBALL (2004) that, again, scored a hit: JUST CAN'T COPE made it to the Top 50 airplay charts in early summer 04.

From 05 until now, Ray Wilko and his Band were playing some shows, introducing new drummer Pit Lee and started working on new material. In December 06 they played sold-out shows, to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Ray Wilko. But most of the time Ray and Band were rehearsing the new tracks that they intended to record in an easy live kind of style. Recording took place at Backyard Studio and at PROGR (both Bern) where the Wilkos got their musical headquarter.

End of 2007 the new and fifth album was finished and saw its release on February 9, 2008. It's called YOU AND ME.

2008 also saw the release of an independent documentary by film maker Dodo Hunziker. It’s called „Wilko will“ (Wilko wants) and is going to be released on DVD.