I met Ramon Hervey II, several years ago, just after he moved to #Harlem. It was at a local cafe with an outdoor patio. He was handsome, friendly and knowledgeable about many subjects, laidback with a California cool which is where he was from. What I noticed with each meetup whether we were discussing business or just a social hang, he was consistently the same. I knew he was once married to the iconic beauty actress, singer and former Miss America Vanessa Williams. They had a lengthy marriage and as famous as she was they managed to keep their family dynamic private. Even their divorce didn’t have any of the bitterness we read about today. They retained a very easy supportive relationship especially when it came to their three children. He revealed that he always a hands on father throughout their lives and still very close to his now adult children, Melanie, Jillian and Devin. Even after Vanessa’s marriage to NBA superstar Rick Fox he was included in all the major holidays and birthdays. A closeness I could relate to as I had a similar relationship with my ex-wife and our daughter. Our meetings grew into a friendship. He supported almost all of my events I gave, whether it be a restaurant opening, book launch, holiday gathering or outdoor concert. I could always count on my friend to show up. I learned over time a lot about this quiet soft spoken charming man that he was a publicist, manager, event producer and worked on films and music concerts, soundtracks with some of the biggest names in entertainment. Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Ashford & Simpson, Hall & Oats, Earth Wind and Fire, Chaka Khan, The Jackson’s with Michael, Peter Frampton, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Lenny Kravitz. He worked at Motown when it meant something and had his own management agency and PR firm handling talent as loyal and temperamental as Little Richard. He regaled me with stories of working with figures that literally shaped popular music and films. Each memory more impressive and amazing than the last. He got to know these celebrities sometimes in their intimate and ofttimes most vulnerable ways.
Yet none of those experiences either damaged or changed the man he was. Those stories including working with icons Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr, and Richard Pryor for a fund raiser exhibition boxing match was now a thing of legend or his shouting matches with self destructive artist like Rick James or working with Stevie Wonder on one of music’s most prolific achievements Songs In the Keys of Life or the musical genius Prince surprising Ramon’s audience with a performance at one of his R& B Live events or better still working on the iconic film Down And Out in Beverly Hills starring his then clients Nick Nolte, Better Midler and Richard Dreyfuss, whose careers were all in a decline until this gem of a movie would revitalize each of them. Ramon was there for all of those moments, with these pivotal figures, the likes of which we will never see again.
I realized he was a vital part of those moments as the stars themselves, behind the scenes, moving from one show stopping career defining moment to the next. Helping the process along and then onto something else. But whenever we touched on the subject of his children, his face would light up and he could share with effortless detail precious moments of their upbringing, the school plays, ski trips, dance recitals, birthday parties and how each of them grew into good well rounded adults, finding their own passions along the way. His children and their friends lovingly refer to him as “Cool Dad.” It was only in those moments that informed me that no matter, what icon or legend he worked with or what height of professional success he had achieved in this fickle game called show business. It all took a backseat, paled in comparison to his greatest role. A really Cool Dad. In the end that is perhaps the only legacy that matters the most.
