About Us
Our band is comprised of six very gifted & experienced members originating from all points of the U.S. but longtime residents of Arizona now. Below is a detailed bio of the background of our talented, fun crew.
A.) Brad Bish originates from the state of Washington. Brad plays 12 string & 6 string guitar and sings many lead vocals (especially in the Eagles and classic 60's and Doo-wop era) as well as harmonies. Brad is a retired elevator mechanic and enjoys his home with his wife Mary in the Palo Verde addition in Sun Lakes. He is as dedicated to playing great golf as he is playing and singing great music with the band as well as booking many of our gigs. Brad has played with Riff Raff for many years now & his energy, enthusiasm and focus on perfection and attention to maintaining the "show" aspects of our performance is an integral part of Riff Raff's polished performances. One notable accomplishment that Brad enjoys is his making of his cover tune album in the 70's playing all the instruments himself including drums, bass, keyboards, lead & rhythm guitar and all the vocals including backup. With the limited technology available then... he completed the daunting task in five years and still takes pride in the finished cut. Also Brad is a U.S. Army Signal Corps "boots on the ground" Vietnam war veteran.
B.) Leigh Enda moved to the valley from "The Windy City" better known as Chicago and the home of the blues in 2008 making Sun Lakes his home. Leigh is a perfect reflection of that great culture playing some of the best harmonica (harp) blues in the valley. Lee has played blues harp for 36 years and guitar for 29 years and sings center mike in the front row along with Brad & Chuck. Leigh's past experience with numerous blues bands performing at the famous "Kingston Mines" in Illinois as well as numerous concerts, open mikes and blues revues gives him the philosophy that "there's nothing better than seeing people enjoy themselves when we are playing". Leigh's energy and love of the music is the heart of Riff Raff's success. Leigh loves playing "duffer golf" in his spare time but performing music live will always be a major joy for him. In the romance department Leigh became happily married to one of our lady fans June 22nd, 2016 Miss Kim O'Donnell Fahey now Mrs.Kim Enda.
C.) Paul Plovick originates from Indiana moving to the valley in Feb.1984 to work for Motorola. Paul plays bass guitar & sings both backup and lead vocals & is responsible for setting up all stage + dance floor lighting. He started playing guitar in high school where our rock band "The Fugitives" won the city [Anderson, Indiana (pop. 72,000] talent contest our senior year where we were broadcast and recorded on the local radio station (Dad was so proud !). I completed a 3 year enlistment in the Army in 1969 & dropped out of music for a few years completing a degree in electronic engineering technology and then picked up bass over another year. In 1974 I formed the rock cover band "Keystone Crossing" outside of Indianapolis playing the Ramada Inn circuit. After re-locating to Arizona I played with "R.B. Davis & the Outsiders" country band of Chandler, "The KC Blues band" out of Chandler, "The Zach's Dad" rock band of Chandler, "Urban Country" of Mesa, The Elvis Presley "Legacy" band w/ Gene Styles of Peoria, The "Night Groove" 8 piece R&B band of Chandler, the 5 piece Latin/rock Santana band "Southern Fly" & the 5 piece electric party band "Faded Jeans" of Glendale (winners of Kool FM battle of the bands 2016) as well as playing praise team bass with "Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Church" in Chandler for 8 years. Additionally as a salaried bass player for the "Zonamusic" recording studios in Phoenix I recorded on the "On the road" album of owner Alan Kovin evenings & weekends. One of the biggest kicks I got was playing a number of years ago with "Faded Jeans" at the Venetian Resort & Casino in Las Vegas but Riff Raff is permanently the band I call "home" now. Paul has played bass & sung with Riff Raff since April of 2011 and is the website designer / manager. Paul retired as an electronic Aerospace engineer Aug 1st of 2014 but continues to work part time electronic contract engineering positions. He plans on rock'n 'till he can't hold a bass any longer with his "brothers" in the Riff Raff band. The band loves to kid him that he just doesn't understand the concept of "retirement". Paul is a U.S. Army Signal Corps veteran from the Vietnam war era having served in Europe and Turkey teaching electronics and repairing radar systems.
D.) Gary Ray is the amazing drummer & "heartbeat" of the band joining Riff Raff in Feb.2017 to become a very influential new addition to our experienced line up of talent adding his playful humor to each set along with additional song material, lead & harmony vocals and incredible drumming skills that really complete the band. Gary originates from New York state moving to Arizona in the late 70's to go on to complete high school in the valley and then attend Arizona State University to attain his Bachelor's and Masters degrees in teaching. Gary has taught Language Science's in middle school in Tempe now for a number of years but plans retirement in June of 2021 when he'll continue to enjoy playing with Riff Raff and his second love fishing in the lakes on the rim in northern Arizona. Gary has played drums professionally now for over 45 years playing with famous musical Arizona icons "Chuck E Baby & the All stars" in addition to playing over 35 years with the popular rock cover band "Sweaty" in the east valley. He has also recorded in studio on numerous albums with other great professional musicians but proudly we claim Gary now as our own.
E.) Chuck Lingle plays rhythm guitar and sings lead on many of the band's songs and is one of the original founding members of Riff Raff helping form the initial band in 2009 in Sun Lakes. Chuck originates from California cutting his musical teeth on the west coast sound and so many of the famous groups of the 70's that originated from there in those years. He eventually moved to Colorado after serving in the Marines in Viet Nam to go on to meet his soul mate, wife & forever love Jacque and move to Sun Lakes where they both enjoy daily golf & playing worship music with the Hope Church in Chandler as well as involvement in many church ministries. Chuck also shares band booking responsibilities with Brad & Mike and loves meeting many of the new and old fans of the band and is responsible for setting up our sound system at each gig..
F.) Mike Hogberg [aka "Rafone".....Mike-rafone...get it? :) ] completes the perfect lineup for the band as our awesome lead guitarist as well as both harmony and lead singer, booking agent and our sound mix engineer. Whew, what a guy! Mike originates from Florida growing up in the rich musical heritage of music of the 60's and early 70's where he mastered playing bass guitar, piano and lead guitar playing first in surfer & garage bands (those were the days) and then after high school playing professionally. While he toured the country playing with rock, blues, and jazz bands he incredibly got to know such famous musicians as B.B. King & many of the Mo-town greats (& seriously the true list of who's -who greats from that era) of top rock soul & blues greatest musicians. Mike is also a retired electronic engineer living with his family in Tempe & enjoys playing lead guitar, keyboards and jazz bass and joined our crew in 2012. Over the many years now that Mike has lived in Arizona he has played with numerous successful cover pop rock bands, latin rock (he played with Paul for several years with the "Southern Fly" Santana band) & bass guitar with the jazz band "Mood Indego".