Condolences: Ray Caviano

• Influential music executive Ray Caviano, the founder of RFC Records, who helped shape the rise of disco and dance music, has died. News of his passing was reported on Sept. 29.

A New York native, Caviano spent more than five decades in the music business, building a career that took him from early gigs with Rolling Stone and London Records to becoming one of the most influential figures in disco’s golden era, and in the process, was instrumental in elevating club DJs as a powerful force in breaking new records and transforming how major labels marketed dance music.

Caviano famously led the disco promotion department at Henry Stone‘s TK Records, where he helped break artists such as Vicki Sue Robinson, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band and the Village People, along with TK’s KC and the Sunshine Band, T-Connection and Peter Brown.

Caviano’s success led Warner Bros. to recruit him to lead its dance music operations. Caviano subsequently launched RFC Records (using his initials), a Warner-backed label that became home to artists including Gino Soccio and Change. The label played a key role in introducing many listeners to a then largely unknown Luther Vandross, whose vocals appeared on several Change hits including “The Glow of Love” and “Searching.”

Industry veteran Joey Carvello, Pres. of Upstream Music Group told RAMP, “Ray was my promo mentor. He gave me my first promo gig in 1979 as East Coast Disco Rep for Warner Bros./RFC. Raymond was The GOAT. He inspired all of whom were either worked by him or worked for him.”

As Soul Tracks‘ coverage of Caviano’s passing so aptly noted, “Ray Caviano was one of those important music figures whose name may not have been on the album cover, but whose fingerprints were all over the music. His impact on the worlds of soul and dance music will long be remembered.” [Special thanks to Dave Jurman and Joey Carvello]