[1] He moved to London in 1962 and began performing as a pianist in various groups, initially with the Phil Seamen Quintet, and then with various bands led by Harry Bence, Eric Delaney, Mike Cotton and Johnny Howard.
[3] But during the 1970s he was most active as a session musician pianist, playing for UK and US musicians visiting London to record, including John Barry, James Kenelm Clarke, Sammy Davis Jr, Jerry Fielding, Jerry Goldsmith, Quincy Jones, Peggy Lee, Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini and Lalo Schifrin.
[2] At the request of director (and fellow musician) James Kenelm Clarke he composed the score for the British film Exposé in 1976.
[5] In the early 1980s several discs of his arrangements were issued by the Steve Gray Orchestra, most notably Beatles Orchestral (1982), with guitarist Martin Kershaw.
From 1991, he worked closely with the North German Radio (NDR) Big Band in Hamburg at the invitation of singer and composer Norma Winstone.
On her 1995 album Well Kept Secret Gray arranged Winstone's version of the Jimmy Rowles composition "The Peacocks", retitled "A Timeless Place" from her own lyrics.
[8] The WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln posthumously released the CD Europhonia in 2014 which is a 2003 live recording of Gray's music written for the group.
[12] In 2004 the same orchestra performed a concert version of the musical The Singer by Gray and Georgie Fame and featuring Madeline Bell, which was released on record in 2014.