We Got a Rat!: The Record of Rat Pack Wit and One-Ups," a compilation of rare recording sessions in the recording studio with guests. The Grammy-nominated documentary _Coke Time: The Art of the Record_ by Adam Scorgie and Michael Uzowuru was a film that showcased Coke's love of music and the unique process of making music and selling records. The documentary included original archival footage from Coke's personal collection, as well as music videos and historic interviews with artists like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Patti LaBelle, and more. The _New York Times_ called the film "A marvelous, loving look into the life and legacy of a record mogul who knew a thing or two about the magic of music." As I continue to write this book, it's hard not to hear the iconic voice of Ray Charles in my head, in which he once sang: "And it's time for me to go / So long Georgia, it's time for me to say, hello, goodbye." He has certainly come to represent the creative spirit of the South and beyond. Ray is such a true giant in the music world. I love the way Ray's music moves me because his music makes me want to dance—it makes me want to sing—it makes me want to feel the beat, and feel the rhythm, and make sure you know it's true. I have so many great memories with Ray over the years, and it made me laugh to know that he did not write "Busted" for his hit-making friends. In his autobiography he wrote that he came up with the idea for the song while riding a bus with Bobby Womack, as well as with James Brown, and he was watching them in awe because "they were doing a full-speed shuffle." It was true for him and I remember one time in particular when we were just about to do a full-speed shuffle in the studio. Ray was a sweet-natured guy who was often a little in love with himself, but his songs took me to a different space and time with his soulful sound. "Busted" became one of the biggest hits in my early career. What a powerful feeling, the kind of feeling you get when you hear people singing your lyrics over and over and over and over again. Ray had his own style and he influenced me to keep honoring my own style and the way I like to talk. He was an influence, but it was really the time period in which I came of age. It was a moment in time when African-Americans were breaking through. It was a moment in time when being who you wanted to be was an important choice. Ray was the type of person that just believed in himself. That's why the world was introduced to him and that's why he is still loved and admired. It has been written that the late Sam Phillips, the great Sun Records label founder, heard Ray's "Mess with My Man" and told him: "Son, you ain't ever heard anything like that before." Ray said that was when he knew he had arrived. You want to know what it is to know that you're on your way, when the people who create great music believe in you and see something in you that you don't see in yourself. I have great admiration for the way those people looked at me, listened to me, and guided me and my music into the present time. If I had just been "bounced out" of The Spinners in the 1970s, I would have been left out of the game forever. That is how talented people were treated back then—it was a hard time for people to be taken seriously, artists included. But when you believe in yourself and stay true to your own style, that's when it all comes together—when people start to see you in a different light. But I never did believe that the industry or the industry people were looking out for me. I knew that if I would just show the world a little bit of my personality and talk about what I wanted to talk about, people would like what I was doing. In this new wave of music, everybody just wanted to do what they wanted to do and what they felt. That was the beauty of it, and that was the beauty of _Motown—_ just as long as you stayed true to who you were. Even if you were black, you could still have a style of your own and own who you were. Motown and its roster of artists broke down all the barriers because they believed that no matter where you came from, what color you were, what your walk of life was, or how much money you had, if you had talent, they would see that. Motown kept telling people they were important and could make it, because they believed it. I was doing great, working with all these great artists, writing songs, enjoying my life, until the industry as a whole started collapsing. A lot of people blamed the Internet for messing up the whole industry. Once the labels realized how much money you could make selling songs on your own, they started fighting back, because there was so much money to be made. Artists couldn't take the labels seriously anymore and that's why the music industry has fallen apart. Now nobody can trust anyone. What they don't see is that _I_ wasn't cheating anyone. I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and I didn't even know that it was going to do what it did—like they say, "Who knew?" It wasn't like people didn't know that I loved music. I was always a music lover. It's always been part of my life. I always wanted to go into the studio and make a record. I didn't know I was going to have the success I had. But then I found out, I worked hard, and it paid off, and I just kept going. **It Was Never the Dream—It Was _Real_ —** _"The music business is so bad that if you stay_ _in it ten years, you get to be a manager._ _I used to just play for other people."_ —CHAKA KHAN _"I had to learn that things will never_ _be the same way again. Life moves on and_ _leaves behind some parts of it. People_ _grow up, people have children, and_ _people become old."_ —JOHN OATES I always dreamed of being an entertainer. I was an entertainer from day one, playing the piano in my family's living room as a child in Cleveland, until one day, when I was eight years old, the family got to see me on the local TV station's live show. Then there was my band, The Invaders, which was a family group in Cleveland. My siblings and I would go out and sing at the local church, and then when I was around fourteen, I began working as a solo artist in front of live audiences with the help of friends in the school system. I thought it was a natural talent. As much as I loved to sing and perform, though, I just never thought that music could be a career for me—or that it could help me make it out of poverty, that was never a part of my dream. I loved music because I was interested in the business side of it and loved watching people enjoy themselves. That's why I never thought about having a group or becoming a superstar as a performer. I would have been shocked if anybody would have told me that the way the music business worked was that they would never let me be a solo artist. They would always force me to use a band, because in those days they always had to have bands for the studio sessions. As a matter of fact, The Invaders were the first band I saw with an electric bass player, which was something that was used in the 1960s, which blew my mind. They had a drummer, two guitars, and even a trombone. The Invaders had a great sound, because they were the only band doing an R & B version of Sly and the Family Stone, and also had a different style. At a young age I had to learn how to write the music for a full band, so the audience would understand what we were doing. Most people didn't have the chance to learn how to write a song, and that was one of the reasons that my group was so popular. We would listen to different records from the radio or my mother's records at home and would teach ourselves the songs. Even the songs that we performed in school, the teachers would tell us that we were very good and they wanted us to join the school band. Then they would have us sing the songs they were singing. For a while I was a little unsure of myself. It was as if I was following my father into the business. He was a great performer in the band, but I was just a child. But we had a chance to meet the Beatles and do their "Hello, Goodbye" on our show. So it was like a dream come true for me, watching them perform at a local theater in Cleveland, a couple of hours away from our house, on a live show that was taped on television. They were absolutely amazing and we were so excited to meet them. I didn't realize then that just being there was an honor for me. They were such stars and my dad was excited about it, too. He thought it was a