Paddy Murphy's Irish Pub on 5th Avenue South - Naples Florida

Justin Ian Raymond, native to the state of Maine, has been singing since he was a child, performing in talent contests and playing in bands throughout high school and into his college years. In 1998, Justin relocated to Florida to pursue a sound engineering degree at Full Sail Recording Arts School in Orlando. After completing the program Justin relocated to Marco Island where he started writing songs and performing with other local musicians under the name Crushdown and they were soon thereafter signed to MCA Records.

Their debut album "Like This" was released in the fall of 2000 and went to 42 on the charts. The band was endorsed by Ernie Ball and toured for almost three years all over the U.S. opening for huge acts like the Foo Fighters, Nickelback, and Candlebox. After several years of touring Justin pulled the plug on Crushdown and walked away from his recording deal with MCA records to pursue a career in real estate but never once did he stop playing and writing music.

In 2004 Justin's new band Digdive won the Miller Mayhem Battle of the Bands in Ft. Myers and was asked to open for the big acts coming through SW Florida, like Nonpoint, Jimmy's Chicken Shack, and Drowning Pool. In 2005 Justin went to the casting call for a CBS Television series called "Rockstar" Out of over a hundred singer hopefuls Justin took first place in the competition.

More recently you can see Justin playing his acoustic guitar all over SW Florida, performing either solo, with his guitar or on occasion as part of an unplugged duo and can even be found performing as the front man of a full on live band. Covering songs by Pearl Jam, Tonic, Elton John, Bob Seger, The Beatles, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Jack Johnson, Neil Young, Lynard Skynard, just to name a few. Most recently, Justin and his business partner Anthony Kojak, have started a production company called RockHood Productions where along with recording local artists they hope to be writing music for television and radio.

For information on where Justin is playing go to www.myspace.com/digdive. "Justin was weaned on the alternative music DigDive covers, and his predilection for the style is obvious in his powerful vocals - whether it's the fluid melody of Alice in Chains or the driving energy of Shinedown" -Tiffany Yates Naplesnews.com and Marconews.com