He started his career as a session musician with Motown. He was also a songwriter and, in 1967 Detroit started a band called The Abstract Reality, who released a 45 rpm single "Love Burns Like A Fire Inside".[1][2] He formed Scorpion with Mike Campbell, Bob 'Babbitt' Kreinar and Andrew Smith. His name appears on Scorpion and Meat Loaf's debut album Stoney & Meatloaf (1971). For that recording, Monette co-wrote four songs.[3][4] That same year, he played tenor guitar on "Evolution" by Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band,[5] and played a guitar solo on Funkadelic's "I Got A Thing, You Got A Thing, Everybody's Got A Thing". He was guitarist and singer for Rare Earth from 1971 until 2004 (with a break around 1977).[6]
Ray played guitar on one of Rare Earth's most memorable singles, "I Just Want To Celebrate" and was the guitarist on the gold-selling 1971 live album, "Rare Earth In Concert" (which had a unique album cover design, like a backpack, with a flap opening).
In 2010, Monette played on the Phil Collins album Going Back.[7]
