Raynoma Mayberry Liles Gordy Singleton (March 8, 1937 – November 11, 2016) was an American R&B producer,

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, and vocalist perhaps best known for her association with ex-husband, Berry Gordy during the early days of Motown when she was often known as Miss Ray.

Early life

Raynoma Mayberry was born on March 8, 1937, in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. She was her mother Lucille's eighth child, but her first by her marriage to Ashby Mayberry. Although her father worked as a janitor for

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, he did well enough to purchase a house on Detroit's Blaine Street in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. In the mid 1950s, Raynoma met and married Charles Liles, an aspiring musician. They had one son, Cliff Liles, born in December 1955. Burdened by financial pressures, the marriage soon folded.

Career

Early association with Berry Gordy

In 1958, Raynoma and her younger sister, Alice, auditioned as a duo for a young songwriter named Berry Gordy. Sensing that Gordy was not excited about their singing, Raynoma told him that she could also write and arrange music. Before long, she was doing just that, becoming a vital part of his budding operation. Later, Gordy had her put together a backup vocal group, which was composed of singers who had been hanging around the studio. Gordy, who loved contractions, decided to call the group the Rayber Voices after their given names, ''Ray''noma and ''Ber''ry. In addition to Ray, the singers in the group were Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Sonny Sanders and later, Gwendolyn Murray and Louvain Demps. Together, Ray and Berry also formed a music producing and publishing firm, Rayber Music Writing Company.

Motown

Tired of the paltry royalty checks that he was receiving, Gordy was encouraged by Ray and Smokey Robinson to start his own record company. Ray located a two-story house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard as the headquarters for the new enterprise. Gordy placed her in charge of the company's publishing operations (now known as Jobete) with the assistance of her brother, Mike Ossman, and Janie Bradford, the company's first receptionist. After the birth of their child, Kerry, and his divorce from his previous wife was final, Ray and Berry Gordy were married. Not long after the marriage, Gordy began having an affair with Margaret Norton, who he once described as "the most beautiful woman in Detroit." However, by the time he finally decided to end the affair, his marriage with Ray was over. As the details of their separation were being worked out, Ray indicated that she still wanted to work for Motown. Gordy accepted her proposal to establish an office of Jobete in New York City. However, with the cost of living being much higher in New York than Detroit, Ray struggled to get proper funding to maintain her office. After repeated attempts to obtain additional funding had failed, Ray decided to take desperate measures. Against the advice of Eddie Singleton (her partner and future husband) she arranged to bootleg five thousand copies of the Motown single, " My Guy" by

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

to keep the office open. When Berry Gordy found out what happened, he was furious. He did not however, press charges. After their divorce was finalized, they remained on amicable terms. So much so that after Ray married Eddie Singleton, Gordy loaned the couple money so that they could start their own record label in the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

Shrine Records

Ray and Eddie Singleton formed a record label, Shrine, which was based in Washington, D.C. When the label proved unsuccessful, Ray returned to Motown in 1968.

Super Three

Raynoma formed a partnership with Motown under the Super Three banner. One of the most successful projects under that arrangement was Rockwell’s Top 10 album, '' Somebody's Watching Me'', in which she served as executive producer.

Personal life

Ray Singleton was married three times and has three sons and one daughter from her various marriages. Her first husband was Charles Liles; they have one son together, recording artist Cliff Liles. Cliff has recorded for Motown with two groups,

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and Kagny & The Dirty Rats. From 1960-1964, Singleton was married to her second husband, Berry Gordy; they have one son together, musician and entertainment executive Kerry Gordy. Kerry was also a member of the group

, along with his brother, Cliff Liles. From 1966-1970, Singleton was married to her third husband, Eddie Singleton; they have one son together, William Edward Singleton, Jr., as well as a daughter, recording artist Rya Singleton.

Death

Singleton died on November 11, 2016, of brain cancer in Woodland Hills, California."In Memory Of Raynoma Gordy Singleton", ''Legacy.com''
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Credits

Producing

Bibliography

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References

Bibliography

External links

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Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singleton, Ray 1937 births 2016 deaths American autobiographers American music industry executives American pop pianists American women pianists Record producers from Michigan American soul musicians Motown artists Songwriters from Michigan Singers from Detroit American women record producers American women autobiographers African-American women songwriters African-American pianists 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers