Danny Ray, Matador of Soul
We all need a soulful angel on our shoulders.
That was part of the resume of Danny Ray, the “Cape Man” for soul brother number one James Brown. Ray died of natural causes Tuesday in Augusta, Ga. He was 85 years old.
On Wednesday the James Brown Estate called Ray “the second hardest working man in show business.”
Ray served as master of ceremonies for the James Brown and the Famous Flames Revue, but he was best known for draping a flowing cape over a worn-out Brown in at the end of a concert.
In my career, I always tried to look beyond the stars. That’s how I wound up backstage with Ray after an intense September, 1984 James Brown show at Metro in Chicago. Brown and his big band covered everything from “It’s Too Funky in Here” to “Try Me” and “Cold Sweat” and “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag” before encoring with “(Get Up) I Feel Like Being a ) Sex Machine.”
After the gig, Ray recalled how the Brown gig began.
Ray was hanging around the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1960. He was looking to get into show business. He met one of the Famous Flames and the group’s road manager.
Ray had come to New York for the weekend from his native Birmingham, Al. “It turned out to be a long weekend,” he said.
Ray remained with Brown until his final show in the fall of 2006. Brown died of heart failure on Christmas Day, 2006. He was 73 years old. At his memorial service, Ray draped Brown’s body in a sequined “Godfather of Soul” cape.
Ray was of diminutive stature and was always well dressed. He resembled Sammy Davis, Jr., a soul brother in his own right. For two years Ray was basically a gofer in the Brown entourage.
In 1962 a local announcer did not show up for the gig. Ray recalled, “Outside the dressing room I saw Brown, and he said, ‘You’re always looking like you’re together. You should do the show.’ I told him I needed time to learn how to do it, and he said, ‘No, tonight you’re going to do it.’ I told him I had never done a professional show in my life, but he insisted I think of something.”
That intro morphed into:
Ladieeees and gentlemennn, it’s starrrr time! The Godfather of Soul! The hardest-working man in show business! Soul brother No. 1! The legend of soul himself! Misterr Dynamite! It’s Mister James Brown!
James Brown! James Brown!”
Ray conjured up the colorful nicknames. Lesser-known Brown shout outs were “Music Box” for when Brown performed in prisons and “Mr. Humanitarian.” Ray recalled, “I was kind of shaking the first time, but I said I was going to get this together and really put something into the act. I started building on what I was saying and believing in myself and as time started going by faster than I realized.”
The lavender cape shtick started a few months later in Baton Rouge, La., according to Ray. “It started with a Turkish towel,” he said. “I would stand in the door and add a robe when Brown sang ‘Please, Please, Please (Don’t Go).’ He would rip it off and rush back onstage. The crowd came to expect it, so we finally got a cape and decided to work it in the show.
“No matter where we are, I never forget the moment to bring it. You have to reach back for the power, and I’ve been doing that for a long time. I think that may be why they call me the little guy with the big voice. I saw the chance and I wanted to hold onto the chance.
“It may never come again.”
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