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Today the multi-talented music industry entrepreneur Nabil Ayers has announced his memoir, My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family, due out June 7 via Viking Books. In this timeless and relatable story, Nabil uncovers the pain of rejection, the joy of inclusion, and how to redraw the lines that define race and family.
Throughout his adult life, whether he was opening a Seattle record store in the ’90s or touring the world as the only non-white member in alternative rock bands, Nabil Ayers felt the shadow and legacy of his father’s musical genius, and his race, everywhere.
In 1971, a white, Jewish, former ballerina, chose to have a child with the famous Black jazz musician Roy Ayers, fully expecting and agreeing that he would not be involved in the child’s life. In this highly original memoir, their son, Nabil Ayers, recounts a life spent living with the aftermath of that decision, and his journey to build an identity of his own despite and in spite of his father’s absence.
Growing up, Nabil only meets his father a handful of times. But Roy’s influence is strong, showing itself in Nabil’s instinctual love of music, and later, in the music industry—Nabil’s chosen career path. By turns hopeful–wanting to connect with the man who passed down his genetic predisposition for musical talent—and frustrated with Roy’s continued emotional distance, Nabil struggles with how much DNA can define a family… and a person.
Unable to fully connect with Roy, Nabil ultimately discovers the existence of several half-siblings as well as a paternal ancestor who was enslaved. Following these connections, Nabil meets and befriends the descendant of the plantation owner, which, strangely, paves the way for him to make meaningful connections with extended family he never knew existed. Despite his father’s absence, Nabil, through sheer will and a drive to understand his roots, redefines what family truly is.
Indeed, the title of the book is an homage to the opening lyric from his father’s classic 1976 song, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.”
Like Roy, Nabil became deeply involved in the music world, first as a musician, and currently as the U.S. General Manager of the London-based record label 4AD, where he has worked closely with The National, Grimes, St. Vincent, Pixies and Big Thief. He was in the crowd at Seattle’s OK Hotel the night Nirvana played “Smells Like Teen Spirit” for the first time in 1991. He co-founded Seattle’s beloved Sonic Boom Records stores in 1997, launched his own indie label The Control Group in 2002, and has toured the world playing drums with artists such as The Replacements’ Tommy Stinson and The Long Winters.
