R a y C h i l d i s h, who began her ascent to musical notoriety in January 2007, obtained the first part of her name from a Brazilian nun operating a Christian hostel in Vienna, Austria, where she resided during her studies of musicology; the latter half derives from her most prominent character trait. There are some that believe she is, in fact, the illegitimate Austrian child of Billy Childish, but this is a view commonly held by the uninformed and pre-enlightened. There are others that say she was spewed forth from a breed of harpsichord (an endangered creature found in Europe, sustaining itself primarily on Bach compositions), forming her being of nothing but wire and sheet music, though this particular philosophy is held only by madmen and the writer of this bio. Childish's innovative style has been described as many things, commonly "Cabaret", coupled with any number of pre- or postfixes usually applied to music, yet she maintains that, although she is Cabaret at heart and soul, her only true musical influence was found long before her current incarnation in Fiona Apple; soon after in the alternative rock band the White Stripes. Casting aside the established precepts of Cabaret, her music boldly integrates elements associated with Metal, Jazz, Swing and Folk, all of which amalgamate around her distinctive vocal style, which encompasses a broad range of techniques rooted in emotionally heightened speech. Aaron M. Henry
