Eddie Ray
Music Man
Music Pioneer · Record Producer · Songwriter & Author
Eddie Ray spent more than sixty years in the American music business — starting as a stock boy at Decca Records in Milwaukee at eighteen, and rising to become the first African-American executive of a major U.S. record company. Along the way he helped shape the careers of Fats Domino, Ricky Nelson, Pink Floyd, Al Green, and dozens more; co-wrote a #1 hit; founded a music-business school; and served a U.S. President as a federal copyright commissioner.
Six Decades of Firsts
U.S. Presidential appointee — Commissioner, later Chairman, of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal.
Operations Director and Vice Chairman of the revived NC Music Hall of Fame · 2009 inductee.
60+ years in music · founded the Tennessee College of Recording Arts and Sciences.
The Five Chapters
The Names He Shaped
Fats Domino · Ricky Nelson · Dave Bartholomew · Slim Whitman · Pink Floyd · Al Green · Mike Curb · The Osmonds · Allen Toussaint · Irma Thomas · Sammy Davis Jr. · Ernie Freeman
Against All Odds
His memoir tells the whole story in his own words — from a hillside above Franklin to the top executive suites of the American record business.