Raja Ram (born Ronald Gary Rothfield in Melbourne, December 18, 1940) is an Australian-born musician and owner of the British label Tip World. He was a founding member of the psychedelic rock band Quintessence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing at the first two Glastonbury festivals in 1970 and 1971. He went on to success on the psychedelic trance scene and continues to headline major events around the world. Ram left Australia in the 1950s to follow the hippie route. He later returned to Australia and studied flute at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Ram went to New York in 1965 to study jazz, which led to his career as a psychedelic musician. Ram retired from Quintessence in the 1970s for personal reasons and became an envelope salesman. Ram then returned to his musical career, finding success in the emerging genre of electronic music. He was one of the first to create what is now considered psychedelic trance. He formed The Infinity Project in 1994 with Graham Wood and Ian St. Paul. The first TIP Records track was celebrated with the first of a series of "TIP evenings". Some of the early tracks were produced by Martin Freeland of Man with No Name. Richard Bloor then joined them, and together they made TIP one of the best-known Goa trance labels. In addition to The Infinity Project, Ram created Shpongle with Simon Posford and collaborated with a group of Goa musicians to produce two ambient albums under the name The Mystery of the Yeti. He is the founder of 1200 Micrograms with Riktam, Bansi and Chicago. He often plays flute on ambient tracks and has appeared as guest flutist with Youth, Boy George and Sly & Robbie. He has also collaborated with The Zap! and Cyberbabas with Benji Vaughan.
