Two-Time World Record Holder R.M. Almonte Honors House Dance Legend Voodoo Ray, the Mentor Who Inspired His Journey

As Almonte pursues his third and fourth world records, he pays tribute to Raymond “Voodoo Ray” Ultarte, grandson of Dominican music legend Joséíto Mateo.

NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, October 14, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As Dominican American author and two-time world record holder R.M. Almonte drives countless hours across Canada in pursuit of his third and fourth world records, a familiar house music song has brought back memories of a man who helped shape his life.

The song, Voodoo Ray, released in 1988 by British musician A Guy Called Gerald, shares its name with Almonte’s late mentor and family member, Raymond “Voodoo Ray” Ultarte.

According to Almonte, Ultarte adopted his stage name from the song, which became an influential recording in house music history.

Hearing the music again during his Canadian journey reminded Almonte of his childhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, New York City’s legendary dance community, and a man who taught him to confront his fears rather than surrender to them.

As the ninth anniversary of Ultarte’s passing approaches on October 17, 2026, Almonte is taking a moment away from his international bookstore campaign to honor someone whose influence continues to shape his journey.

A Musical Legacy Spanning Generations
Raymond “Voodoo Ray” Ultarte was a dancer, choreographer, actor, and nightlife promoter whose contributions helped shape New York City’s house dance and hip-hop communities.

Raised on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Ultarte became a respected figure within the city’s evolving dance culture.

He was also the grandson of legendary Dominican merengue singer Joséíto Mateo, connecting his artistic journey to a family musical heritage spanning generations.

While his grandfather established an enduring legacy in Dominican merengue, Voodoo Ray pursued his own path through dance, house music, and entertainment.

His professional career included performances and entertainment projects associated with major recording artists, including Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Run-DMC, Busta Rhymes, MC Lyte, Wyclef Jean, and the Backstreet Boys.

Beyond performing, Ultarte helped organize dance showcases, promote nightlife events, and bring together artists from different musical and cultural backgrounds.

Voodoo Ray was part of New York City’s influential house dance community alongside respected dancers and pioneers, including Ejoe Wilson, Sekou Heru, and Caleaf “Big Leaf” Sellers.

Together with many other artists of their generation, they contributed to the growth, recognition, and preservation of house dance, helping introduce its culture and traditions to audiences around the world.

From 109th Street to the World Stage: The Rocwild Years
Long before becoming internationally known as Voodoo Ray, Raymond Ultarte was known as Boogie Ray on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Both Ultarte and Almonte shared Dominican roots and a connection to 109th Street, a neighborhood that helped shape their childhood experiences and ambitions.

Around 1980–1981, Ultarte and Julio Hernandez co-founded a neighborhood dance crew called Rocwild.

Boogie Ray served as president, Julio Hernandez as vice president, and Eulises “Chino” Gago as captain.

The group included Almonte’s oldest brother, Will Power, Abraham, and many other young dancers who shared a passion for music, movement, and creative expression.

Rocwild represented more than a dance crew. It brought together young people who sought opportunities to express themselves and build something meaningful beyond the streets they knew.

Abraham, a dear friend of Voodoo Ray, passed away during the crew’s early years. His death deeply affected Ray and the other members, leaving a lasting impression on the close-knit group.

For Almonte, watching the development of Rocwild and the career of Boogie Ray demonstrated how young people from his own neighborhood could pursue opportunities that reached far beyond New York City.

What began on 109th Street would eventually help carry Ultarte into a professional entertainment career, where he became known as Voodoo Ray.

Before R.M. Almonte, There Was Stone Ray
For Almonte, Voodoo Ray was much more than a successful entertainer.

He was family, a mentor, and one of the first people to demonstrate that the world extended far beyond the streets of New York City.

Ultarte’s sister married Almonte’s oldest brother, establishing a family relationship that led the two men to refer to each other as cousins.

Nine years older than Almonte, Voodoo Ray became an influential figure in his childhood.

Almonte remembers him from as early as first grade.

During the 1990s, when Almonte was 18 years old, he adopted the name Stone Ray so people could distinguish him from Voodoo Ray.

The name reflected their close connection during an important period of Almonte’s life, long before he began his journey as a science-fiction author.

As a teenager, Almonte was introduced to the world of New York City’s house music and nightlife through Ultarte.

Voodoo Ray took him to numerous parties and nightclubs, sometimes before he was legally old enough to enter.

Through these experiences, he met influential figures in house music, including legendary DJ and producer Little Louie Vega and celebrated house vocalist Barbara Tucker.

Almonte encountered musicians, dancers, promoters, and personalities from different cultural and professional backgrounds.

These experiences taught him to communicate confidently with people whose lives and experiences were different from his own.

But Ultarte’s mentorship was not always gentle.

When Almonte showed fear or hesitation, his mentor could be particularly demanding.

Voodoo Ray challenged him to confront uncertainty, overcome self-doubt, and pursue opportunities even when failure seemed possible.

He offered advice freely and encouraged Almonte not to let fear determine the direction of his life.

Those lessons would follow Almonte for decades.

The Candy Store: Sharing the Airwaves With Voodoo Ray
One of Almonte’s most meaningful memories involves working alongside Ultarte on a house music radio show called The Candy Store.

Broadcast on 89.1 FM, the program featured T.O. Sweet as its main host, with Voodoo Ray and Almonte participating together.

For Almonte, the experience represented another opportunity to learn from someone who had already established himself within New York City’s entertainment community.

Working on the radio program allowed him to participate directly in the musical culture he had admired throughout his youth.

The experience also reinforced the importance of communication, creativity, and building relationships with people from different backgrounds.

Long before Almonte began promoting his books internationally, he was learning how to connect with audiences through the shared experience of music.

The Man Who Made the World Seem Possible
Throughout his entertainment career, Voodoo Ray traveled internationally, sharing stories about countries such as France and Japan.

To a young Almonte, these places seemed impossibly distant.

Ultarte was among the first people Almonte personally knew who had traveled extensively and experienced cultures far beyond their New York surroundings.

His stories made the world seem both larger and more accessible.

Years later, Almonte would live in Japan, establish his own publishing company, and eventually travel across the United States and Canada pursuing world records.

While the two men chose different artistic paths, their journeys shared a common philosophy: opportunities are created by those willing to step outside their comfort zones.

A Devastating Week in October 2017
On October 17, 2017, Raymond “Voodoo Ray” Ultarte passed away.

At the time, Almonte was living in Japan.

He received the devastating news from a friend in America.

The loss came during an extraordinarily difficult period.

Almonte’s grandmother was in a coma, and after learning of Ultarte’s passing, he immediately contacted his oldest brother, who was overwhelmed with grief and could barely speak.

Almonte boarded a flight to New York the following day.

Upon arriving, he learned that another childhood friend had also passed away.

During that heartbreaking period, Almonte lost both his grandmother and Voodoo Ray, mourning two important family members within days of one another.

The experience profoundly affected him.

Losing individuals who had played such important roles in his life reinforced the importance of pursuing meaningful ambitions while the opportunity remained.

The emotional impact would eventually influence his writing.

How Voodoo Ray’s Passing Influenced the United Earth Series
As the author of the metaphysical science-fiction United Earth series, Almonte explores themes involving consciousness, mortality, identity, and the mysteries of existence.

Following Ultarte’s passing, these themes became deeply personal.

The death of a fictional character named JK, along with the funeral scene that followed, was directly influenced by the grief Almonte experienced after losing his mentor.

Although the events unfolded within a fictional universe, the emotional foundation came from a real chapter of Almonte’s life.

The scene became a way of expressing the pain of losing someone who had helped shape his childhood and personal development.

Through his writing, Almonte carried part of his mentor’s influence into the literary world he was creating.

Voodoo Ray had spent his life expressing himself through music, dance, and entertainment.

His influence would now find another expression through literature.

An Unfinished Book and a Dream Yet to Be Fulfilled
Among Almonte’s most cherished memories is a telephone conversation in which Voodoo Ray revealed that he was working on a book about his life as a dancer.

For Almonte, the conversation was a tremendous honor.

His mentor had spent years performing, traveling internationally, promoting events, and working alongside influential figures in entertainment.

Now he wanted to tell his story in his own words.

Unfortunately, Ultarte passed away before that ambition could be fully realized.

Almonte continues to hope that one day he might help complete the book his mentor envisioned.

Such a project would preserve not only Ultarte’s personal experiences but also an important chapter in the history of New York City’s house dance and nightlife communities.

It would provide future generations with an opportunity to understand the artists, music, and experiences that helped shape the culture.

For Almonte, completing the project would represent an opportunity to give something back to the man who had encouraged him long before his own writing career began.

From Stone Ray to a Two-Time World Record Holder
Nearly nine years after Voodoo Ray’s passing, Almonte finds himself living a version of the life his mentor once inspired him to imagine.

Following a bookstore-signing campaign across all 50 United States, completed in just 192 days, Almonte became a two-time world record holder.

That campaign included appearances at 64 different Barnes & Noble locations.

On October 2, 2026, he launched his next international undertaking in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

His current campaign encompasses 93 scheduled bookstore appearances, including 89 in Canada and four additional appearances in the United States, including Alaska.

Scheduled to continue through May 23, 2027, the journey is designed to take him through Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories while pursuing his third and fourth world records.

Much of the campaign involves countless hours alone behind the wheel, traveling between unfamiliar cities and communities.

These long stretches of road provide opportunities for reflection.

Almonte often thinks about the people who helped shape his life and the lessons that inspired him to pursue increasingly ambitious goals.

Voodoo Ray’s willingness to travel internationally, meet people from different backgrounds, and pursue creative opportunities despite uncertainty became an example Almonte carried into his own journey.

The boy who once listened to his mentor describe countries he could only dream of visiting is now crossing an entire nation in pursuit of his own dreams.

A Legacy That Must Never Be Forgotten
As the ninth anniversary of Voodoo Ray’s passing approaches, Almonte hopes this tribute encourages people to remember Ultarte not simply as a performer who worked alongside famous entertainers, but as someone who contributed to the growth and preservation of house dance.

His contributions were part of a larger movement built by dancers, DJs, promoters, and artists whose collective creativity transformed nightclub culture into a global artistic expression.

From his early years as Boogie Ray and the founding of Rocwild to his professional achievements as Voodoo Ray, his journey reflected a determination to create opportunities beyond the neighborhood where he grew up.

His artistic legacy also formed part of a broader family history, connecting the musical heritage of his grandfather, Joséíto Mateo, to another generation of Dominican American creative expression.

For Almonte, however, his mentor’s greatest contribution was personal.

Voodoo Ray taught him to confront his fears, communicate with people from every walk of life, and pursue opportunities that might initially seem impossible.

Those lessons helped shape the writer, entrepreneur, and world-record holder he would become.

His mentor never lived to see Almonte complete his 50-state bookstore campaign or begin his journey across Canada.

Yet his influence continues to travel with him.

Decades after a young Stone Ray first entered the world of New York City house music, the lessons of Voodoo Ray remain part of Almonte’s journey.

And when a familiar song plays along a quiet Canadian highway, the memories return.

The music continues. The journey continues. And the legacy of Voodoo Ray lives on.

About R.M. Almonte
R.M. Almonte is a Dominican American metaphysical science-fiction author, founder of R.M. Almonte Publishing LLC, and two-time world record holder.

His literary works include Fogs of Time and the United Earth series, exploring consciousness, spirituality, science fiction, and humanity’s relationship with the unknown.

Following a 50-state U.S. bookstore campaign completed in 192 days, Almonte launched an international bookstore tour in October 2026 in pursuit of his third and fourth world records.

Samuel Hamodey
R.M. Almonte Publishing
press@rmalmonte.com
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Written By: EIN Presswire