Eddie Ray, a recent inductee into the N.C. Music Hall of Fame, a recording music industry pioneer and curator of the Hall of Fame in downtown Kannapolis will serve as the grand marshal for the Kannapolis Christmas Parade on Dec. 5.
Ray’s achievements include being appointed the first African-American vice president of a major recording label, signing Pink Floyd to their first major recording contract, and serving as chairman of the U.S. Copyright Tribunal after being appointed as a commissioner by President Reagan in 1980.
Ray, a native of Franklin, N.C., joined Central Record Sales Distributing Company, the major independent distributor for R&B records in southern California the early 1950s. There he promoted a who’s who in R&B, working with John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf, Ruth Brown, The Drifters, Clyde McPhatter, B.B. King, Jesse Belvin, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Joe Turner and LaVern Baker.
From Imperial, Ray joined Capitol Records as director of A&R of Tower Records where he signed Pink Floyd. A year after joining Tower, Ray was appointed vice president.
In 1969, Mike Curb became president of MGM records and hired Ray as senior vice president of A&R Administration. They worked together until 1974 when MGM was sold to Polygram.
Upon leaving MGM, Ray moved to Memphis and became vice president of Cream Hi Records and Stax Publishing working with Al Green, Rufus Thomas and Ann Peebles.
While in Memphis Ray established the Tennessee College for Recording Arts and Science which later was incorporated into the University of Memphis’ Music Business Program.
The CMC-NorthEast Kannapolis Christmas Parade will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5. The parade will be followed by the annual tree lighting ó with fireworks ó in Village Park at 7 p.m. Activities will begin at 6:30. For more information about the parade, visit http://christmasparade.wordpress.com or call 704-920-4343.