With over 35 years working for record labels and 60 years as the frontman for Ron Moody and the Centaurs, Ron Moody knows the music industry from top to bottom. So, it came as a natural fit for him to draw from his knowledge and creativity to write his first fictional novel, Forever the Constellations: Story of a Band, which was released in January.
Instead of penning a book about his own musical journey, Moody opted to write about a fictional band that started in the 1960s in Georgia.
Young and naive, the five friends cut a record. It becomes a national hit and thus begins the band’s twists and turns through the music industry. After a long time, they eventually go their separate ways and are reunited years later at a funeral.
“They reconnect and then there is another series of events. It ends in a way that people don’t expect,” says Moody, who grew up in Lakeside.
He solidly credits his fans for providing the impetus for his entry into the publishing world. “Over all the years of playing music, people have come up to me and said ‘Why don’t you write a book?’,” he says, adding that he started the process about three years ago. “People are interested in the music business and the characters in the business.”
Getting His Start in the Music Business
Moody’s own career started in December of 1964 when he was a student at Brookland Junior High School and he and fellow classmates started Ron Moody and the Centaurs, now members of The Beach Music Hall of Fame.
The five-member band hit its stride when it released If I Didn’t Have A Dime, originally recorded by singer Gene Pitney, during Moody’s college days at University of Richmond.
“We just celebrated our 60th anniversary in December at the Tin Pan. We brought the curtain down on that,” Moody says of the group. “We may do a reunion once a year.”
Moody began his 35-year music business career in the early 1970’s in Atlanta with ABC/Dunhill Records. He later moved to Polygram, which merged with Universal.
He believes the music business today is a young person’s business. “It will always change and keep on changing,” he says.
Currently, Moody is host of two syndicated radio shows, “YOUR Saturday Night Beach Party”, and “Retro Rock and Soul – The Music & The Memories,” airing online on WFLO in Farmville and Boomtown in Richmond as well as on stations in the Carolinas and Florida.
The Long and Short of It
Moody, who is still writing songs for his own publishing company, explains that writing a song is about economy of verse. “You have three to four minutes to say what you have to say. With writing a book, you have the luxury of being more descriptive to flesh out the characters,” he says.
The music business he knows quite well, but the book business is “a new animal,” he says. “There seems like a thousand steps to jump through, plus the competition is crazy in the book world.”
When he started writing his book, everything began flowing, he says. “I found it to be a really fun exercise. It’s something I wanted to do, and something I can add to my resumé.”
He hopes people enjoy the read. “If they enjoy it, it will be a gratifying feeling,” he says.
Moody’s self-published book is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle, as well as at select retailers across the area, including The Marketplace Antiques, Vintage, & Home Décor in Hanover County and Book People in the west end at 10464 Ridgefield Parkway, where he will have a book signing on May 10.
