Rush/ATI lawsuit in the '70's

[ytserush]

Rush historical accounts always gloss over the legal issue usually indicated that the band/Ray Daniels had to pay out a settlement in a dispute with their management company but until know I never knew the other side of the story. The other party, Ira Blacker,  decided to write about it recently:

 

 

https://onceakingnowaprince.com/life-in-the-music-business/

 

Very interesting read and maybe not all that surprising.

[Brava Doh!]

Good read. 

[grep]

Very good read. 

I am not surprised at all. 

Edited June 27 by grep

[78jazz]

I know this may be wild; does anyone have a cliff notes version of what happened with Vic Wilson?

[50poundnote]

He repeats "life in the music business" 17 times in that story. Unnecessary. And it reeks of trying to control the narrative. A Google search turns up very little, mostly links back to trying to sell his book. He also misspells Ray's name - Danniels has two "n"s in it.

[Blue J]

It is an interesting read- and maybe I just possess a requisite degree of cynicism already, but the fact that the guy is explaining how the 'music business' is not just about the music seems extremely remedial. 

 

'Music business'- business is the thing, music is the modifying word there. It means that even creative output, even the most genius creative output, can be (and is) reduced to nothing more than a product that's used to lure people into spending money. And money is money, of course it's important that the artists get paid for what they create. But for the guys who work this end of the spectrum- the Ray Danniels and Ira Blackers of the world- it's not about art, it's about ownership and marketing. 

[grep]

29 minutes ago, Blue J said:

It is an interesting read- and maybe I just possess a requisite degree of cynicism already, but the fact that the guy is explaining how the 'music business' is not just about the music seems extremely remedial. 

 

'Music business'- business is the thing, music is the modifying word there. It means that even creative output, even the most genius creative output, can be (and is) reduced to nothing more than a product that's used to lure people into spending money. And money is money, of course it's important that the artists get paid for what they create. But for the guys who work this end of the spectrum- the Ray Danniels and Ira Blackers of the world- it's not about art, it's about ownership and marketing. 

Echo with the sounds of salesmen..... 

[Ron2112]

On 6/28/2026 at 9:15 PM, 50poundnote said:

He repeats "life in the music business" 17 times in that story. Unnecessary. And it reeks of trying to control the narrative. A Google search turns up very little, mostly links back to trying to sell his book. He also misspells Ray's name - Danniels has two "n"s in it.

And Neil Peart's -- which really tells you all you need to know. Reading between the lines, this guy was managing from long-distance, which I can't imagine working now, let alone in the mid-70's. Rush has always had a small, tight-knot front office, even once they got huge. 

 

The simple version of the story is that this guy was dead wood and removed accordingly.

[ytserush]

On 6/28/2026 at 9:15 PM, 50poundnote said:

He repeats "life in the music business" 17 times in that story. Unnecessary. And it reeks of trying to control the narrative. A Google search turns up very little, mostly links back to trying to sell his book. He also misspells Ray's name - Danniels has two "n"s in it.

Does seem like overkill. Until  now, I never heard his side before. His marketing is very repetitive. May have reached the point where he wants to tell his story. To him Rush was just another band, which I guess is why it seems a little more believable to me.

 

 

[ytserush]

On 7/2/2026 at 8:25 AM, Ron2112 said:

And Neil Peart's -- which really tells you all you need to know. Reading between the lines, this guy was managing from long-distance, which I can't imagine working now, let alone in the mid-70's. Rush has always had a small, tight-knot front office, even once they got huge. 

 

The simple version of the story is that this guy was dead wood and removed accordingly.

 

Not defending the guy, but it seems like he never gave the band a thought after the split and maybe he was not as thorough as Geddy as putting the work in on getting the small details right and went for a quick recollections.. Obviously, the legal judgement was in Blacker's favor and that's how he was "removed."

[Ira Blacker]

Thank you ytserush  for your comments. With respect to long distance, my friend, I trusted my two partners who were on the road, where I spent all of my time finding and securing a major record deal, booking all of their dates personally, and looking out for their business. Rush was not just another band to me, which is why I busted my ass, sucessfully so, on their behalf.  To 50poundnote  I sincerely want to apologize to you if I have sounded repetative, not that being repetative takes away from a good story OR THE TRUTH, but, If my repeating triggered you, and you could not think of anything else to say, I truly apologize and promise when I write about it again, to only repeat 16 and not 17 times. To Blue J as you don't know piss all about me, do not generalize. I too was a musician, a shitty one, but i my heart was always with my clients and if you took the time to even just go to Amazon and see the comments from Nazareth, Rory Gallagher, via his brother Donal, and Roger Earl, of Foghat and Savoy Brown, you would see the truth vs. your assumptions about people in power. As a person with both strong right and left brain abilities, I appreciate creativeness more than your assumptions decrie. Ron2112  what people like you don't understand, is that it is people like me who had launched careers.  Deadwood? No son, Greed, the greed of Ray Daniels, a drunk, who the band eventually let go was deadwood. And to answer another question from above, Ray fired Vic Wilson right after me. I think the only difference is that Vic probably got nothing for his trouble, but a judge ordered Ray to pay me lots of money.  So to all here, never assume, especially that this was not then nor ever an issue with the band. I promised them a sucess, and delivered bigger than ever. The problem was between myself and the drunk Ray Daniels. 

 

[Ira Blacker]

On 7/3/2026 at 12:01 PM, ytserush said:

 

Not defending the guy, but it seems like he never gave the band a thought after the split and maybe he was not as thorough as Geddy as putting the work in on getting the small details right and went for a quick recollections.. Obviously, the legal judgement was in Blacker's favor and that's how he was "removed."

Just to clarify this: I ran into the band and Howie, who I placed in the job of road manager, at Phonogram, not to long after the split. Ray was not just a devious bastard, but as he was on the road with the band, as they didn't need three of us there, somebody had to be minding the store, what Ray told the band was not truthful, so they turned their backs on me and would not even say hello back. So much for "never gave the band a thought...." If an old friend did that to you, would you stick around? :-) Also there is nothing quick about my recollections, having taken 15 years to write my memoir. So you know, I put my heart into the band, delivered the promised land of success, and to be dumped? That hurt bro, big time. :-) For all here: "assumption is the mother of all evil." It is kinder to ask questions rather than assume.

[Mr. Not]

Great read

[Ira Blacker]

1 hour ago, Mr. Not said:

Great read

Thanks Mr. Not. :-)

[chemistry1973]

Hi Ira,

 

Thank you for all this interesting information.

Was Ray pushed out, or did he retire? Do you still have a relationship with Cliff?

 

In the early days, what was Rush earning with Kiss and Uriah Heep?

 

[Ron2112]

2 hours ago, Ira Blacker said:

 No son, Greed, the greed of Ray Daniels, a drunk, who the band eventually let go was deadwood. 

 

So this is pretty much what I'm talking about. Ray Danniels was let go?!?!?!

 

No. He managed the band for 40 years, and retired when they did. The band is under different management now because NO ONE expected them to come back, and they have since signed with new management. Everyone associated with the former SRO is in their 70's and presumably, enjoying retirement.

[Ira Blacker]

Ron, stop believing what you read. I spoke with the head of the office, about a couple of months back, and who has been there since day one. Ray was oblivious for years as a drunk, and she ran the show for many years. Are you on the inside? 

[Ira Blacker]

1 hour ago, chemistry1973 said:

Hi Ira,

 

Thank you for all this interesting information.

Was Ray pushed out, or did he retire? Do you still have a relationship with Cliff?

 

In the early days, what was Rush earning with Kiss and Uriah Heep?

 

You are welcome and thank you for kindly putting your comments in a reasonable fashion. It is interesting as a man who was there on the inside, on how many think, repeat think, as in assume that they knew better. :-) Ray, at the end was whatever one wants to call it, but he was quitely retired for being a drunk and for many years it was the office manager who ran the office. Ray was there in name and bottle only. Rush went on as an opening act, and while those figures are not fresh in my old dude's mind today, it would have been anywhre from 500-1,000 bucks as that was standard for those days. in todays money, it would be ten times that re inflation. I also placed them on some Savoy Brown dates and with others. 

[Ira Blacker]

1 hour ago, chemistry1973 said:

Hi Ira,

 

Thank you for all this interesting information.

Was Ray pushed out, or did he retire? Do you still have a relationship with Cliff?

 

In the early days, what was Rush earning with Kiss and Uriah Heep?

 

Re Cliff, the answer is I do not still have a relationship with him. Cliff had nothing to do with the signing, nor did Mike Gormely. I brought the band up with Irv Steinberg, President, as he was my business equal. The other two guys were staffers. Irv, I am sure sought their opinions, but it wouldn't have mattered as he saw dollar signs based on the non-real hype I created. I had Jem records, who's owner and also the manager their were my friends, tell all who asked, meaning Irv, and also Larry at Casablanca who actually passed on the band, tell all who called that it was a runaway import smash. This was fabricated. I got Donna, the MMS Music Director to move it from lunar to regular daytime rotation, and had them playing dates, which clearly portrayed Rush as a touring band, with one of the two most powerful rock agencies of the day behind them. I not only managed Rush, but also owned ATI. Larry actually went to see them live, Irv did not. My hype was good enough for Irving. :-)

[Ira Blacker]

there not their. :-)

[treeduck]

One question, why wait 52 years to talk about this?

[napoleonj]

Interesting context... Especially when you read the tea leaves between what both Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen have said about Ray...

Maybe Rush needed an asshole through the early years... And maybe having an asshole allowed them to focus on what they needed to focus on.

It is interesting to see how the same manager failed so intensely working with a different organization. 

[Ira Blacker]

4 hours ago, treeduck said:

One question, why wait 52 years to talk about this?

Anyone relevant in the music industry knew the story then. It is not new, unless you feel there is a timeframe for doing so? :-) My memoir took me years to write, and it is in there and when I started to do my research for posts in support of it and started seeing some of the stupid shit online, such as every fool and his dog, taking credit for my work, I decided to set the record straight. As an example, on Wikipidia Donna Halper took credit for breaking Rush. My effort, if you don't mind was ingenious, I hyped them all the way to the bank and much more so for them than myself. PS. Does the truth have an expiration date or time frame?

Edited August 18 by Ira Blacker
typo

[ytserush]

On 8/17/2026 at 10:34 AM, Ira Blacker said:

Just to clarify this: I ran into the band and Howie, who I placed in the job of road manager, at Phonogram, not to long after the split. Ray was not just a devious bastard, but as he was on the road with the band, as they didn't need three of us there, somebody had to be minding the store, what Ray told the band was not truthful, so they turned their backs on me and would not even say hello back. So much for "never gave the band a thought...." If an old friend did that to you, would you stick around? :-) Also there is nothing quick about my recollections, having taken 15 years to write my memoir. So you know, I put my heart into the band, delivered the promised land of success, and to be dumped? That hurt bro, big time. :-) For all here: "assumption is the mother of all evil." It is kinder to ask questions rather than assume.

 

Apologies. My characterization/assumption was a generalization based on what I knew (not much) about the details of this as there is/was minimal information publicly available. I figured (wrongly apparently) that you had moved on to bigger and better things in your life since it's been 50 years. I'd be happy to ask questions, but at the time of my comments, you were not here to ask. All I had to go on was the very few details that the band has publicly revealed and your chapter I'd stumbled onto.

 

Here's one question:

When did the split happen exactly? Was Vic's departure before or after yours? (Just trying to get some context into the history.)

 

Thank you for the opportunity.

[Ira Blacker]

All good my friend. Please ask whatever questions that you care to and it will be my pleasure to answer them. The split happened sometime around early 1975, I had left ATI, the agency I founded, in late September 1974. It came with a letter from Ray, demanding I refund him the monies I had earned to date, as a comission earned from the Mercury deal which I had hyped into place. It was not until two years later when I saw Ray in court and happily the judge destroyed him. I write in detail about that on the chapter in my book about them. You may enjoy it, as I am sure many of the bands you follow are in there.