Ray is the 2003 ECMA (East Coast Music Award) Winner for "Bluegrass Artist Of The Year" which he also won in 1996. The Amherst, Nova Scotia native is becoming known as one of Canada's premiere fiddle/mandolin players. Ray is a five-time winner of the Eastern Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle " Player of the Year", honors which have distinguished him with a "Masters Award" for each. The first year of the awards he captured a total of three, including guitar and was recently awarded the Masters for "Best Fiddle Player" in the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards. Ray, although not wanting to be a contest player, was selected winner of the 1983 Open Mandolin Championship in Woodstock Ontario, winner of the 1986 Open Mandolin Championship in Winfield, Kansas, and winner of the 1989 Old Time Fiddle Championship in Sackville, New Brunswick. He scored among the top ten in Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championship in 1990 and in Napean, Ontario's 1990 and 1991 Grand Masters Fiddle Championships. Ray Legere is one of today's most honored Bluegrass fiddlers. His many awards include five-time winner of the Eastern and Central Division Bluegrass Awards in the categories of Mandolin and Fiddle, winner of two Open Mandolin Championships and finalist in the Canadian and Nashville's Grand Masters Fiddle Championships. Ray's extensive tour schedule includes backing artists like Michelle Shocked, Tony Rice, John McDermott, Alison Brown, Rita McNeil and finding time to be “house fiddler” for a popular French Canadian music TV series. He has recorded for hundreds of sessions and graced world-renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry.
