Today I heard of the death of record producer Jerry Ragovoy. He was much more than a record producer; he wrote and arranged, conducted orchestras, managed artists, ran record companies, mentored artists from Howard Tate to Dusty Springfield to Dionne Warwick and Irma Thomas. That’s some CV.
One day Warner Brothers were furious – they had an enormous orchestra booked for Sinatra the next day and he had cancelled, leaving them with an expensive session and nothing to do with it, so they phoned around to see if anyone else could use it. Ragovoy said yes and next day – after a sleepless night writing a song and arranging it for a full orchestra – they recorded Lorraine Ellison’s Stay With Me, an all time soul classic.
He started recording doo wop groups in the 1950s and was still making records up to about ten years ago.
Mr Ragovoy died on July 13 of a heart condition. Thanks for the wonderful music, Jerry.
