Roy Felix Eaton

Background

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Eaton grew up in Harlem. His father was a mechanic and his mother a domestic servant.

Education

Bachelor in Music, Manhattan School Music, 1950; Master of Arts in Music, Manhattan School Music, 1952; Bachelor in Social Science, City College of New York, 1950; postgraduate, Yale University, 1950-1951.

Career

He is cited as the first black American prominent in the field of advertising. He took up classical piano when he was six and shortly after, in 1937, played at Carnegie Hall, winning gold medal in a Music Education League competition. He made his concert debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Chopin’s F Minor Concerto under George Schick in 1951.

He was reengaged to perform Beethoven’s 4th the following season, and also made his New York Town Hall debut in 1952.

His education included the City College of New York, the Manhattan School of Music, the University of Zurich, and Yale. He subsequently became a music instructor at the Manhattan School of Music.

He was drafted for two years into the United States. Army at the time of the Korean War, serving all of that time in a hospital radio station,WFDH in Fort Dix, New Jersey where he wrote and produced radio and television programs. In 1955, on leaving the Army, Eaton was taken on as a copywriter and composer at Young & Rubicam, and in his first two years created 75% of all the music produced there.

He worked almost three decades in advertising, with Young & Rubicam, Benton & Bowles and later his own company, Roy Eaton Music Incorporated.

In 1986, he returned to regular concert performance at Alice Tully Hall, in Lincoln Center with a unique program format, "The Meditative Chopin", a subsequent "The Meditative Chopin II" in 1987 and a third recital in the same hall in 1992.

Beginning in 1968. He was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2010.

Achievements

• Roy Felix Eaton has been listed as a noteworthy Concert pianist by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

Corporal United States Army, 1953-1955. Member American Federation television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation Musicians.

Interests

• Avocations: transcendental meditation, shiatsu therapy.

Connections

Married Minnette Delph, February 20, 1960 (divorced 1980). Children: David, Daniel, Christopher. Married Barbara Pittman, August 25, 1996.

Children: Ravi, Ari.

Father:

Felix T. Eaton

Mother:

Bernice A. (Neil) Eaton

Spouse:

Minnette Delph

Spouse:

Barbara Pittman

child:

Daniel Eaton

child:

Ari Eaton

child:

Ravi Eaton

child:

Christopher Eaton

child:

David Eaton