Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Nabil Ayers has been part of the music scene in many capacities: musician, record-label creator, band manager, music executive, and founder of Seattle’s Sonic Boom Records. He is also an author, writing about music and race for the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and many others. Now Ayers has written a new memoir, My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family, about his relationship with his father, Black jazz musician Roy Ayers; being a mixed-race person in the United States; and his work in the music industry. While Ayers’ famous musician father was rarely present in his life, he still turned out to be a strong influence, showing up in Ayers’ love of music and his eclectic career in the music industry. Motivated by his father’s absence, Ayers researched and connected with other extended family members and discovered the existence of several half-siblings, as well as a paternal ancestor who was enslaved. Following these new family connections, Nabil meets and befriends the descen