Roy Ayers (September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer… Read Full Bio ↴Roy Ayers (September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk with his band Roy Ayers Ubiquity. He is a key figure in the acid jazz movement, which is a mixture of jazz into hip-hop and funk, and has been dubbed by many as "The Godfather of Neo Soul". He is most well known for his signature compositions "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" and "Searchin", and is also famous for having more sampled hits by rappers than any other artist.

Roy Ayers was born in Los Angeles. Thanks to his trombone playing father and piano teaching mother, he became immersed in music from day one and the story goes that he was given his first set of vibe mallets by his hero Lionel Hampton at the age of 5. Constantly performing and recording since the 1960s, he is one of the most famous jazz vibraphonists. He has produced some of the most loved modern soul-jazz records of all time such as, "Everybody Loves The Sunshine", most influential afro-jazz with musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Africa - Centre Of The World) and the most seminal jazz-funk, such as "Running Away". And that's just the surface. 2004 saw the release of "Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased Recordings 1976-1981" which were 'lost' sessions tapes that he had discarded. Gilles Peterson described this as the equivalent of finding a lost Beatles album. No doubt this helped him win the Gilles Peterson 2004 Worldwide Lifetime Achievement Award. Roy Ayers is ageless and evergreen and as per the title of another one of hits, remember "We All Live In Brooklyn Baby".

Timeline
Ayers started recording as a bebop sideman in 1962 and rose to prominence when he dropped out of City College and joined jazz flutist Herbie Mann in 1966.

In the early 70's, Roy Ayers started his own band called Roy Ayers Ubiquity, a name he chose because ubiquity means a state of being everywhere at the same time.

Ayers was responsible for the highly regarded soundtrack to Jack Hill's 1973 blaxploitation film Coffy, which starred Pam Grier. He later moved from a jazz-funk sound to R&B, as seen on Mystic Voyage, which featured the songs "Evolution" and the underground disco hit "Brother Green (The Disco King)", as well as the title track from his 1976 album Everybody Loves the Sunshine.

In 1977, Ayers produced an album by the group RAMP, Come into Knowledge, commonly and mistakenly thought to stand for "Roy Ayers Music Project". That fall, he had his biggest hit with "Running Away".

In late 1979, Ayers scored his only top ten single on Billboard's Hot Disco/Dance chart with "Don't Stop The Feeling," which was also the leadoff single from his 1980 album "No Stranger to Love", whose title track was sampled in Jill Scott's 2001 song "Watching Me" from her debut album Who Is Jill Scott?

In the late 70's, Ayers toured in Nigeria for six weeks with Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, one of the Africa's most recognizable musicians. In 1980, Phonodisk released Music of Many Colors in Nigeria, featuring one side lead by Ayers' group and the other lead by Africa '70.

In 1981, Ayers produced an album with the singer Sylvia Striplin, Give Me Your Love (Uno Melodic Records, 1981). He has also worked in collaborations with soul songstress Erykah Badu.

Ayers performed a solo on John "Jellybean" Benitez's production of Whitney Houston's "Love Will Save The Day" from her second multi-platinum studio album Whitney. The single was released in July 1988 by Arista Records.

Ayers has played his live act for millions of people across the globe, including Japan, Australia, England and other parts of Europe.

Ayers is known for helping to popularize feel good music in the 70's, stating that "I like that happy feeling all of the time, so that ingredient is still there. I try to generate that because it's the natural way I am". The types of music that he used to do this consisted of funk, salsa, jazz, rock, soul and rap.

1990s to present
In 1992, Ayers released two albums, Drive and Wake Up, for the hip-hop label Ichiban Records.

In 1992, Ayers collaborated with Rick James for an album and is quoted to have been a very close friend of his.

In 1993, Ayers appeared on the record Guru's Jazzmatazz Vol.1 featuring on the vibraphone in the song "Take a Look (At Yourself)".

In 1994, Ayers appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African-American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine.

During the 2000s and 2010s, Ayers ventured into house music, collaborating with such stalwarts of the genre as Masters at Work and Kerri Chandler.

Ayers started two record labels, Uno Melodic and Gold Mink Records. The first released several LPs, including Sylvia Striplin's, while the second folded after a few singles.

In 2004, Ayers put out a collection of unreleased recordings called Virgin Ubiquity: Unreleased recordings 1976–1981 which allowed fans to hear cuts that didn't make it onto the classic Polydor albums from his more popular years.

Roy Ayers hosts the fictitious radio station "Fusion FM" in Grand Theft Auto IV (2008).

In 2015, he appeared on Tyler, The Creator's new album Cherry Bomb on the track "Find Your Wings".

A documentary the Roy Ayers Project featuring Ayers and a number hip hop producers who have sampled his music and other people who have been influenced by him and his music has been in development for a number of years.

Pharrell Williams cites Roy Ayers as one of his key musical heroes.

Ayers is a recipient of the Congress of Racial Equality Lifetime Achievement Award.

http://www.royayers.com
http://www.bassics.de/ayers.html
http://www.discomuseum.com/RoyAyers.html

I Love You Michelle
Roy Ayers Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Stephen Marley:
Oh yeah
(Skat)
And she said she needs more than a friend
That's all I've ever been yo
Well, one said when are you gon overstand
(Skat)
And I remember the first day that we met ya

How could I forget cha
When you smile and I turned and I say to you yo
Yo your pure and true
I'm in love wit you
In love wit you
In love wit you
In love wit you
I'm in love wit you
In love wit you
In love wit you
In love wit you yeah
I'm so in love baby
I don't care what your mama say
Standing in love baby
I don't care what your sister say
(skat)

I need you

Eryka Badu:
He said he's really digging me
I don't know what to say
I can't imagine why I feel so weak
Say, say
That's when he took my heart in his hands
And kissed it gently
He opened up his lips then said this poetry
I'm in love wit you
In love wit you
In love wit you
Love you too
In love wit you
In love wit you
I'm in love wit you
In love wit you yeah
I'm so in love baby
I don't care what your brother say
I'm so in love baby
I don't care what the people say

Stephen Marley and Eryka Badu:
Well I try and I try
And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try
And I try

Stephen Marley:
Aeh, And you say you need more than a friend
That's all I've ever been yo
Well, one day you will overstand
(Skat)

Eryka Badu:
And when I look in your eyes I knew you were meant to be
My soldier, so baby come on I need it desperately

-The rest is just repeated lines, basically back and forth between Badu and
Marley-

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Roy Ayers's song "This Guy's in Love With You" as interpreted by Stephen Marley and Eryka Badu in their rendition, depicts a story of two people who have fallen in love with each other. The song opens with Marley singing about a woman who needs more than just a friend, despite him being one to her all along. He reminisces about the day they met, and how he was in awe of her pure and true personality. He declares his love to her unreservedly and reassures her that he's standing in love with her, despite what her mother or sister may say. Badu's verse comes in, acknowledging that Marley is digging her, and she reciprocates those feelings. She feels weak in the knees and doesn't know how to respond to his advances. However, Marley wins her over and proceeds to recite some sweet lines of poetry to her, assuring her of his love.

Further into the song, the duo sings the repetitive phrase, "I'm in love with you," signifying the depth of emotions they both feel for each other. They also express disinterest in what other people think, signifying that their love is strong enough to withstand any external forces acting on it. In conclusion, the song "This Guy's in Love With You" celebrates the beauty of falling in love with a special someone and the excitement of taking the first steps towards building a lifelong relationship.

Line by Line Meaning

And she said she needs more than a friend
The person mentioned wants a deeper connection than just being friends

Well, one said when are you gon overstand
Someone asked when will the person understand the situation

When you smile and I turned and I say to you yo
The person remembers the moment they first saw the other person smile and called them pure and true

I'm in love wit you
The person is in love with the other person

I'm so in love baby
The person is deeply in love with their partner

Standing in love baby
The person is committed to the relationship

He said he's really digging me
The other person said they really like the first person

And when I look in your eyes I knew you were meant to be
The first person knew there was a connection with the second person simply by looking in their eyes

And kissed it gently
The other person gently kissed the first person to express their feelings

My soldier, so baby come on I need it desperately
The first person desires a deep and meaningful relationship with the second person

And you say you need more than a friend
The second person wants a closer relationship

Well, one day you will overstand
Someone believes that eventually the other person will understand the situation

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Stephen Marley, Erica Wright

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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