Growing up with a Jewish mom and a famous dad he never knew — the jazz musician Roy Ayers |
Growing up with a Jewish mom and a famous dad he never knew — the jazz musician Roy Ayers
Forward
2022-08-15
Nabil Ayers’ memoir reflects on family, identity and his journey to connect with a Black father who was ‘really just DNA’
Nabil Ayers carries the surname of a famous father he barely knows, except in the ubiquitous music of Roy Ayers – most famously in the 1976 jazz-soul-funk album by that name featuring the hit “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.” For the younger Ayers, it pops up to surprise him when he least expects it.
Flashback to 1970, when Louise Braufman, a white Jewish former ballerina working as a waitress in New York took one look at the rising African American jazz composer and vibraphonist and thought she’d have a baby with him.
After a few casual dates, she asked Roy Ayers and he agreed, cautioning her that his career was his priority, and he wasn’t available for a serious relationship or any form of parenting.
Nabil Ayers was born of that union and grew up with a strong sense of self, despite his father’s absence. His new memoir, “My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family,” explores his unconventional but richly diverse childhood, his own rise in the music industry and the search to connect with his father, which led to discovering paternal Black half-siblings and an enslaved ancestor…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Forward, Louise Braufman, Nabil Ayers, Roy Ayers, TaRessa Stovall