Roy Ayers
*Roy Ayers was born on this date in 1940. He was a Black vibraphonist, record producer, and composer.
Roy Ayers was born in Los Angeles. He grew up in a musical family, where his father played trombone, and his mother played piano. Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of vibraphone mallets when he was five. The area of Los Angeles that Ayers grew up in is South Central Southern California. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School, which produced various talented musicians, such as Dexter Gordon. Ayers sang in the church choir and fronted a band named the Latin Lyrics, in which he played steel guitar and piano.
Ayers was a formative part of the Central Avenue jazz scene. He started recording as a bebop sideman in 1962. In 1963, he released his debut studio album, West Coast Vibes, and joined jazz flutist Herbie Mann in 1966. In the early 1970s, Ayers formed his band called Roy Ayers Ubiquity, a name he chose because ubiquity means a state of being everywhere simultaneously. He is best known for his compositions "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," "Lifeline," "No Stranger to Love," and others that charted in the 1970s. Ayers was responsible for the highly regarded soundtrack to the 1973 blaxploitation film Coffy.
In late 1979, Ayers scored his only top ten single on Billboard's Hot Disco/Dance chart with "Don't Stop the Feeling," the leadoff single from his studio album No Stranger to Love (1980). In the late 1970s, Ayers toured Nigeria for six weeks with Afrobeat innovator Fela Kuti, one of Africa's most recognizable musicians. In 1981, Ayers released his album, Africa, Center of the World, along with James Bedford and Ayers's bassist William Henry Allen. Allen can be heard talking to his daughter on the track "Intro/The River Niger." In 1984, he released the album In the Dark, which bassist Stanley Clarke produced. The album promoted a LinnDrum, an instrument popular among pop and jazz-funk musicians from 1982 to 1985. At this time, Ayers' music was promoted extensively by the UK BBC Radio 1.
Ayers has played his live act for millions of people across the globe, including Japan, Australia, England, and other parts of Europe. He was known for helping to popularize feel-good music in the 1970s, stating, "I like that happy feeling all of the time, so that ingredient is still there. I try to generate that because it's the natural way I am." This was continually reflected throughout his musical output. Ayers married his wife Argerie in the early 1970s, and they had three children together. He also had a son, the writer Nabil Ayers, from an earlier relationship. His daughter Ayana had also been managing him recently until his death. Roy Ayers died on March 4, 2025, in New York City at 84 after suffering from a long illness.
To Become a musician or Singer
To Become a Conductor or Composer
