Remembering Beatles Author Ray Coleman - Page 2

Ray left Melody Maker in 1967 to edit its sister publication, the weekly Disc and Music Echo. In 1970 he returned as Editor-in-Chief to Melody Maker where his objective journalism and incisive interviewing techniques would transform the state of pop music writing in England.

Any semblance to gushing fan writing would give way to tightly constructed pieces built around fact, observation and quotes. Besides reporting on major groups, such as the Beatles, Ray also had an eye for upcoming talent and trends.

During the 70s, Melody Maker gave banner-headline ink to the early careers of performers such as Queen, Elton John, Bob Marley and Led Zeppelin. In the process, Ray also started a monthly magazine, Black Music, to recognize the impact of reggae.

He left Melody Maker in 1979 to embark on a career as a freelance writer and biographer. As a journalist and author, he won Britain’s Editor of the Year and Writer of the Year awards in national competitions.

Ray was the first journalist to receive the Gold Badge of Merit from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was working on a biography of Phil Collins at the time of his death.

At a party, in front of several people, Paul McCartney once said to Ray Coleman, “We never could turn you on, could we, Ray?” By avoiding the drugs and other excesses of life on the road, Ray’s clear memory, work ethic and appetite for the truth were deeply treasured.

He was one of the few people ever to get Cynthia Lennon and Yoko Ono to agree on something important about John Lennon - which was that he should write Lennon’s authorized biography. From previous experience, both women knew that Ray would write truly and help them remember truly.

Ray also strove to help his peers write — and live — truly. I, for one, never understood how he could turn out so much top-shelf work and, in the process, give so much of himself to other writers.

In my long, cherished friendship with him, he never refused to listen to a story idea, read my stuff, ferret out a source, or commiserate over publishing woes (more often mine than his). And this was a guy on a first-name basis with John Lennon! Whatever was he doing, bothering with my sloppy copy? Through the years, I discovered that he was a mentor to quite a few writers all over the world.

As with his writing, so it was with his mentoring: what distinguished Ray Coleman was not just the number of people, but more so how he went about things. In a business of loudness, he never raised his voice. In a world of gossip, he never talked badly about his colleagues or their work. He was invariably kind, gracious and generous beyond measure.

Article Author: Jim O'Donnell

The most well-known of my four rock music books was called The Day John Met Paul and it was published by Penguin. Routledge Books is reprinting it and including pictures this time to go with the text. I am currently writing a book about John Lennon's murder. …

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