North Carolina-born music executive Eddie Ray dies at 99

NORTH CAROLINA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Eddie Ray, a music executive, songwriter and poet who became the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame's first executive director, died June 21 at age 99. As one of the first Black executives at a major mainstream label, he oversaw the careers of artists like Al Green, B.B. King and Lew Rawls as well as the Osmonds, Pink Floyd and Hank Williams Jr.

Eddie Ray, a pioneering music executive, songwriter, and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame’s first executive director, died June 21 at age 99.

Mr. Ray, who was born on December 21, 1926, in Franklin, N.C., a mountain town near the Tennessee border, rose from stock boy at Decca Records to one of the first Black senior executives at a major record label, during a career that spanned more than 60 years at companies like Capitol Records, Cream/Hi Records, Imperial Records, and MGM Records.

Mr. Ray left Franklin to attend Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, N.C., because his segregated hometown didn’t have a high school for Black students. After graduating in 1944, he was accepted into an Army Reserve training program at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and at 18 was inducted into the Army. After a few months of service, Mr. Ray was discharged and in early 1945 moved to Milwaukee, where he got his first job in the music industry as a stock boy at Decca’s distribution center. 

As a talent evaluator and executive, Mr. Ray’s knack for building and nurturing careers crossed music genres. His roster of artists included Al Green, Fats Domino, Rick Nelson, Mike Curb, Allen Toussaint, Sammy Davis, Jr., the Osmonds, Donny & Marie Osmond, Pink Floyd, Lou Rawls and Hank Williams Jr. He pushed the music of R&B star Ray Charles and blues standout B.B. King to mainstream audiences. And his rock bona fides were confirmed as the executive at Capitol Records who brought the English band Pink Floyd to the U.S.

As a songwriter, Mr. Ray’s “Hearts of Stone” was a pop, R&B, and country charting hit that’s been recorded by more than 30 artists, including Elvis Presley, John Fogerty, and the McGuire Sisters and included on the “Goodfellas” soundtrack. Mr. Ray was also a published poet and author whose credits include his memoir “Against All Odds” and five published books of poetry.

Mr. Ray also was a public servant. He was appointed commissioner of the U.S. Copyright Royalty Tribunal by President Ronald Reagan and spent four years as its chairman. He also founded the Tennessee College of Recording Arts & Sciences.

In 2009, Mr. Ray was inducted to the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and later appointed executive director, where he built the organization's operational foundation from scratch. The hall named its lifetime achievement award in his honor.

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