Ray Danniels
Ray may well be the youngest person ever to go into band promotion and manage- ment. He dropped out from school and worked for other promoters, before forming his own agency, Music Shoppe International. This company merged with Vic Wilson’s own agency to become SRO, whose most successful act became, and has remained, Rush. “He tried to expand the stable a couple of times,” says old contemporary Don Shafer; other bands in the past have included Mendelson Joe and Kim Mitchell’s Max Webster, but time and priority always came back to the trio. “I attribute almost all popstars’ successes to the manager (whom I refer to as ‘pimp’ on occasion), because without a pimp no-one saw Van Gogh, nor heard Elvis north of the Mason-Dixon line,” says M. Joe. “Selling is everything and, once in a while, the product sold has real sustaining value! Ray Danniels deserves huge credit. He has the gift, anything that he decides he’s going to give it 110% will succeed, it won’t matter who it is.”
In the nineties, Ray also managed Van Halen through until November 1997, and since then, Rush has given him plenty to be getting on with. “He hasn’t lost his stride,” says Don Shafer. “He’s a dedicated, passionate manager.”