James Brown’s cape man, Birmingham native Danny Ray, dead at 85
Updated Feb 04, 2021;
Posted Feb 03, 2021
Danny Ray, the man who had the responsibility for James Brown s cape through the years, holds up his cape in honor of Brown during the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)AP
Facebook Share
By Randall Roberts Los Angeles Times (TNS) and Tribune Media Services
The greatest showmen can’t do it alone. They need someone like cape handler Danny Ray, who died Tuesday at age 85, to tend to their mortal needs.
Who takes charge during an onstage emotional breakdown when, for example, soul singer James Brown collapses in a cold sweat and needs his cape? Who picks up the blazer and brushes it off when life overwhelms Brown a second time, then a third?
Print
The greatest showmen can’t do it alone. They need someone like cape handler Danny Ray, who died Tuesday at age 85, to tend to their mortal needs.
Who takes charge during an onstage emotional breakdown when, for example, soul singer James Brown collapses in a cold sweat and needs his cape? Who picks up the blazer and brushes it off when life overwhelms Brown a second time, then a third?
For more than 45 years, valet Ray rushed to help the Godfather of Soul during that climactic moment, in the process playing a crucial costarring role in Brown’s magnetic stage show. Whenever Brown collapsed with feigned grief during the song “Please, Please, Please,” Ray was there to comfort Brown (just in case he fainted from desperation).