Ronnie Raphael’s Swan Song

• After a remarkable 54 years in the music business, 51 years in record promotion, and 46 years running his own promotion company, SWAN (South West Album Network), where by his own estimation he worked over 10,000 unique titles, the intrepid Ronnie Raphael has announced his retirement.

“I am very fortunate to have spent my entire work career around my passion, music — and get paid for it,” the Dallas-based Raphael tells RAMP. “But the true payoff is the many friendships I have made along the way!”

Here are some quick Ronnie Raphael career milestones: First show he worked as a promo rep: “Rush opening for Blue Oyster Cult on my birthday, July 10,1975 in Dallas” • First song hired to promote as an indie: “Whip It” by Devo, July 1980 • Favorite song Raphael has promoted in his 51 years: “Which happens to be the very first song I ever promoted, which was released on my first day doing record promotion in May 1975 — ‘I’m Not In Love’ by 10CC.”

Another career highlight was in 1979, when Raphael went to work for Infinity Records — “I was very close with one of our artists, Rupert Holmes. When his album was finished, the label sent the music to me and asked if I could hear any hits. I said yes, the song is called ‘Escape,’ but we would have to change the title to ‘The Piña Colada Song,’ because when listeners hear that song on the radio, they will request ‘the Piña Colada song.'”

Raphael said, “I took the song to KNUS, the Top 40 station in Dallas and persuaded Program Director Larry James to play it once. The phones went nuts, and it was released as a single. It went to No. 1 in Billboard, and then the label pulled the plug and dismissed over 100 employees overnight… But that’s another story. Infinity has the distinction of being the only record company to go out of business with the No. 1 song in the country!”

So, what does retirement look like? “Volunteering with two music oriented nonprofit organizations. More time hanging with friends and family. Golf, live music events, attending sporting events locally and elsewhere.”

Moving forward, Ronnie can be easily contacted at rjrswan@sbcglobal.net or 214-80-4412.