Date Posted:08:42:59 12/06/11 Tue Author:rainbow Subject: Re: All about Ray Gillen... In reply to:
Blu
's message, "All about Ray Gillen..." on 19:03:21 06/01/03 Sun
>I seriously doubt Ray abused drugs; somehow that just
>doesn't fit--tho very little of the man's real and
>private life is known. I've tried to find info on him
>online, but even when people are asked about him in
>interviews, no one says much except "great guy,"
>"phenomenal talent" or just "I knew him, RIP." I've
>never had so much difficulty finding information on
>someone before.
>
>Ray commented in a late-80s interview that while he
>drinks his share, he's not excessive and doesn't party
>because "I want to stay healthy" (he was dead about 5
>years later). Glenn Hughes has said that Ray was in
>serious denial about his disease and would always tell
>him he didn't have it, he said they both watched the
>tribute to Freddie Mercury together and Ray told him
>again he didn't have AIDS. Hughes said Ray once showed
>him bloodwork to prove it, only later Glenn found out
>it was actually Ray's brother's-in-law--not Ray's.
>Even Ray's mom denied it was AIDS.
>
>I do think it's short-sighted to presume he may have
>been gay or a drug user to contract it. While men are
>less likely to contract AIDS from a woman than they
>are to transmit it to either sex, it is entirely
>possible. Ray was gorgeous, charismatic and gifted. I
>have no doubt he had his pick of ladies. He may have
>experimented sexually, been promiscuous or tried drugs
>in his younger days and contracted it, long before
>anyone even knew what AIDS was. He could have had a
>blood transfusion and gotten it. He could have been
>bisexual. No one's talking, so we may never know.
>
>If Ray was in such denial about his disease, as all
>reports seem to suggest (Glenn commented that Ray
>"left a lot of unanswered questions for people," and
>also mentioned that Ray and his girlfriend would visit
>Glenn's house before Ray died--you have to wonder if
>Ray transmitted the disease to anyone else. Badlands
>saw their share of groupies. Someone had suggested he
>dated the chick Susie Owens from the "Winter's Call"
>video; she was a Playmate and he was a rock star, so
>you can assume that if it's true, they slept together.
>He also has a daughter, Ashley, who'd probably be
>about... 20 now I guess. I get the impression he
>contracted the disease after her birth.
>
>That's about all I know and there aren't any answers,
>but I hope some of that helps a little with all the
>Ray questions on the board.
>
>Blu
Ray was too beautiful and talented to be taken in such a cruel way :-(
