A life made of "Strings"

Ronald, whose life is based on strings, started to play the guitar at the age of 15 and was influenced by his older brothers, Patrick, Lionel, and Richard, who played in a band while attending college in Bordeaux, France. Ronald's music and guitar was also influenced by world's greatest guitarists such as Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Ingwie Malmsteen, and Gary Moore. His father Frederic was at some point very concerned about Ronald spending more time working on his guitar skills rather than working on his tennis game as Ronald would sometimes play the guitar up to 6 hours a day. What can be done between tennis matches to drop the pressure and the stress of the tournaments? For Ronald, it was never a question. All the hotel rooms where he spent most of his time since he started his tennis career were the witness of the progressive improvement of his guitar skills and compositions. That was Ronald's Rock years that led to his 2 albums "Kids On The Road" and "Waves Of Love". After being away from music due to his tennis activities Ronald released in 2011 a single "Heart And Soul Haiti", a tribute to Haiti. In 2011 he did a live performance at the Masters Tennis Event of Marbella, Spain where he was competing (Legends Tour) and performed at the ATP World Tour Event of Atlanta. His 3rd album "22" was recorded in Los Angeles and released in 2017. The album, produced by Ronald and co-produced by Keith Sterling demonstrates a cornucopia of influences ranging from Blues, Smooth Jazz, R&B, Rock, Neo-Soul, and Caribbean music, all interwoven into a new vibe and displays Ronald's soulful singing and guitar playing.

His latest musical project finally came to life with the release of his 4th album in 2022 “Cordes De Vie” (Strings of Life"), which is available today for listening/download on iTunes/Apple Music, Deezer, and Spotify with the physical CD available for purchase on Amazon.com. The 10 original tracks are a mix of styles and genres ranging from guitar-oriented instrumental songs such as "Vertigo" and "The King of Tire" to pop/rock ballads such as "Smile For You", "Strings of My Life", “Ainsi Va La vie", with an Afro/Latin/Caribbean twist with "Anacaona Reine d'Hispaniola", "Una Historia en La Habana", and world music with "L'Amour Est Plus Fort", "Free Free The World", and "Paris En Mai". Through his songs sung in French, English, with a bit of Spanish Ronald talks about his experiences during his many travels which, thanks to tennis that have taken him around the world many times from a young age. The title "Paris En Mai" is dedicated to the French Open where Ronald was a 1/4 finalist in 1989 against winner Michael Chang.

On the gear side Ronald owned close to 60 guitars back in the 80s and 90s, playing with different axes such as a Gibson Explorer, Ibanez Paul Gilbert, Ibanez Steve Vai Jem77, Fender Stratocaster, Charvel/Jackson, Washburn, and a Lag custom. For his latest album “Cordes De Vie” Ronald used one of his 2 Ibanez rg3xxv 25th Anniversary mounted with DiMarzio pickups. In a need of new sounds Ronald is now playing with the ESP LTD Les Paul style guitar and is excited of the new tones and vibes that will come out of his upcoming album "Perfect Illusions". For the recording studio he uses Logic Pro with a variety of digital effects, a Vox Tonelab ST for additional guitar effects and for the live gigs, his set up varies with Vox, Fender, or Marshall amps. For vocals, he uses the classic Shure SM58.