Russ Bray
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Russ Bray (born 22 June 1957 in South Ockendon, Essex) is a darts referee who works for the Professional Darts Corporation. He is also known as The Voice, due to his unique style of calling and his raspy voice.
Darts career
According to Bray himself, his calling career began one night when the regular caller failed to show for a county match. Russ was then contracted to call for the PDC in 1996 and was given his debut at the World Matchplay in Blackpool. He was the caller when Phil Taylor hit the PDC's first-ever televised nine-darter in 2002 at the same event. He has called seven more nine-darters live on TV since then including the first televised nine-darter outside of Europe by Mervyn King in Johannesburg, South Africa.[1]
Bray was a county player for Hertfordshire and subsequently played on the pro circuit.[2] He teamed up with Eric Bristow to win the Norway and Finland pairs.
Bray also hit the bullseye on a standard dartboard from 10 feet, outdoors, on Blackpool's North Pier, thus achieving a Guinness World Record in the process.[3] Russ beat the day's previous best of 9' 6" which was achieved by fellow PDC official, Scott Gibling.
Other work
Bray has made use of his raspy voice in more commercial work in recent years. He was the referee in the PDC's first ever video game, PDC World Championship Darts and also became the voice of Feasters, a microwave food chain. He also does voiceovers for Coral, Ladbrokes, Cash Converters, McCoy's Crisps and has a very successful App: Russ Bray Darts. Bray has since made an appearance in boxing as the voice on Sky Sports Fight Night in October.
Political
In May 2020, Bray expressed interest in running for the constituency of Colchester BC for the Conservative Party. In an interview on BBC2, he told Denise Bradbury "My career has been one of intrigue, and the world of darts has led me to believe that I can do more in Parliament than in the dart world." [4]
References
- ^ "Russ Bray". Mastercaller.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ "Premier League Darts: We spoke to Russ Bray, the man behind that growl at the oche". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ "Unicorn Darts - News - RUSS BRAY ENTERS RECORD BOOKS". www.unicorn-darts.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ https://www.list.co.uk/article/116268-charlie-brookers-antiviral-wipe-bbc-two/