Raycharles "Ray" LaMontagne (born 1974) is a folk singer-songwriter currently living in Maine. He has released two records, and claims that his main influence is Stephen Stills. Critics have compared LaMontagne's music to Stills, Tim Buckley, and Nick Drake.Ray LaMontagne was born in New Hampshire (although in his own words, they were "just passing through,") in 1974 to a constantly travelling mother, and a violent father who abandoned the family soon after Ray's birth. His mother moved him and his siblings to wherever she could find work. As a result, LaMontagne struggled in school and has been quoted as saying, "I didn't like school at all. I didn't engage. I was a misfit, an oddball, always getting into fights. It wasn't pleasant." [1] Ray lived in Morgan, Utah, a small rural farming town in his earlier years where he attended middle school and his freshman year at Morgan High. He was known as an indifferent student who never took academia seriously. With a great sense of humor and a huge nose, Ray was well accepted in social circles but never seemed to create serious friendships with anyone. He did graduate from high school, however, and found a job at a shoe factory in Lewiston, Maine where he stayed for a year. One morning at 4 am, LaMontagne found his calling as a singer-songwriter when he heard Stephen Stills' "Treetop Flyer" on the radio ("I just sat up in bed and listened. Something about that song hit me. I did not go to work that day; I went to the record store and sought out that album [ Stills Alone ]. I listened to it, and was transformed."). He quit his job to focus on a career as a musician.By mid-1999, LaMontagne amassed 10 songs for a demo he would send to Chrysalis Music Publishing. After recognizing LaMontagne as a gifted artist, Jamie Ceretta set out to expose LaMontagne to the world. In a period of two weeks, they created Trouble at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, California which was picked up and released by RCA Records in 2004.Two years later, LaMontagne won a Best Voice Esky in Esquire's 2006 Esky Music Awards.As an almost chronically shy and, as he puts it, "very private person", LaMontagne dislikes giving interviews. On the rare occasion he grants one, he reveals little to no information about his past or his personal life. As such, very little is known about him as a person