RAYSHUN

Robert Williams, RAYSHUN, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 21st, 2000, to parents Theresa Herron and James Williams. Rob spent a lot of his childhood exploring his interests from video creation to competitive gaming, during that time he entered a talent show and performed Chris Brown's hit song "With You" in Second Grade, making it his debut performing for live audiences.
He wouldn't come back around to singing until Eighth Grade, when he tried out for the advanced choir at his middle school — called "Shades of Blue" — after dropping Orchestra Band the year prior. Rob would then be accepted for the show/jazz choir, Solid Gold, at his high school — where he continued to be a Tenor One for the next three years. 

Throughout that time Rob had started to gain notoriety for his singing abilities in the Duluth, Minnesota area amongst peers and musicians alike. He would go on to win Best Trio Performance alongside Taryn Pederson & Basia Leahy at a showcase in Chicago, Illinois, and be selected for University of Minnesota-Duluth's National Honor Choir as a Tenor One. Rob was also cast as Troy Bolton for his high school's theatrical play of the Disney Channel hit movie “High School Musical” during his senior year. 

THE CREATION OF RAYSHUN

Rob wouldn't come near music again until he moved to Las Vegas in 2021 with two of his best friends Avionte Williams & Armon Witherspoon-Freeman, which would go on to him meeting now labelmate, Levi Bryce, through Avionte. The two were in the same acting class and were already friends, so Levi would eventually come to the house and meet Rob. They bonded right out of the gate due to them sharing similar interests in music and humor that would develop into a friendship of their own. 

Over the time spent together, Levi realized that Rob had a unique ability of free-styling to instrumentals of various genres, which started the collaboration on "FRNDZ?" 

[How did FRNDZ? get put into motion?]

"One night I was just chilling in my room but I heard Avionte on FaceTime in the kitchen and he was talking to Levi. He had told me he was writing a song and I asked him to let me hear the beat so then I just started free-styling to it. He said 'Keep that! That was fire!' And he was serious, I was like 'Oh, shit…' because I had never recorded music before, so I didn't really know what I was doing.
I wrote a verse in like 20-30 minutes, then we went to studio pretty soon after that, and now here we are."

"FRNDZ?" would go on to be released on streaming services January 29th, 2022, and that marked the beginning of RAYSHUN. 

“Dancing Queen” by RAYSHUN

“FRNDZ?” by (from left:) Levi Bryce & AYAKA & RAYSHUN

[Reflections on High School Musical]

"I was nervous as shit. After I got the [leading] part for Troy, I went to the director and begged to be reassigned to Cory or Corbin but that didn't happen. I was super stressed out at the time, coming straight from football practice to rehearsals I would go home every night and cry. Like just straight up ball, because I didn't think I was meant for the role and wouldn't succeed. Then the opening night came and me and Emma Schiltz, who was playing Gabriella, had to do this play in front of a sold out auditorium and EVERYBODY was there. Thank God we ended up not missing a line and we sold out the show every night, raising the theater program $11,000 dollars. I didn't expect all the love because I did forget we were performing a well-known movie, but after shows the kids would come up to me and be so happy to see me it was dope, some girls gave me flower bouquets but I'd just give them to the kids anyway."

During that time in high school Rob also performed Colbie Caillat's “Bubbly,” Alex Clare's “Too Close,” Daniel Caesar's “Best Part” alongside Bayley Anderson, and did background vocals during Bayley's performance of Kyle Dion's “Cool Side Of The Pillow” before graduating in 2018. 

[Reflections on being in choir in high school]

"When I got to high school, I didn't want to have one of those stories where it was miserable and I didn't enjoy myself. Outside of sports and playing video games, I always enjoyed singing and throughout my time in choir my friends supported every step as far as attending the concerts and being interested in that side of me. Everyone in choir was like a big family and ended up being some of the closest friends I have to this day solely based off that experience, we were sort of in our own world."