Ramon Hervey II, an acclaimed talent manager shares his thoughts on fame and success.

October 4th, 2022

When asked about his first time feeling starstruck in his line of work, Ramon Hervey II barely hesitates to say his first time meeting Stevie Wonder.

At the time, Hervey was a junior publicist at Motown Records. Stevie Wonder called a meeting to support the release of his iconic album “Songs in the Key of Life.” Hervey was invited to attend.

“I was so excited,” Hervey said. “This was the first time I was actually going to meet him. One of the first things he said once the meeting started [was] ‘I just want to set the tone for this meeting. I want you to know that one of the things I really want for this album is I want a billboard in Times Square that is so big and so bright that even I can see it.”

Throughout his career as a PR and entertainment manager, Hervey would get the opportunity to work with dozens more artists such as Bette Midler, Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye, and Lionel Richie.

Hervey describes his entrance into the music industry as an accident. After getting laid off from his job as a flight attendant, he got a job offer at a talent agency.

“I gravitated towards it naturally,” Hervey said. “Once I got in, I just organically grew and enjoyed that process of working with artists working in music. I think I got spoiled because I really got to work with some of the seminal artists in our business.”

When he was younger, Hervey was surrounded by music. He describes how his parents would play artists like Ray Charles and Dinah Washington on repeat until he got sick of them, but eventually he found his own appreciation for music, specifically rock ‘n’ roll.

“My first love of music was really Jimi Hendrix,” Hervey said. “I became a huge fan of his in high school. And then in college [I got into] a lot of rock ‘n’ roll artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.”

After working as a publicist at Motown, Hervey got various jobs writing and publishing at different record labels before he took the risk of starting his own company, “Hervey & Company.”

“I thought ‘I want to really give myself an opportunity to grow in this business,” Hervey said. “When you’re working at a record label … you’re still working under the auspices of their name. I think when you go out on your own and you become an entrepreneur, then you’re branding yourself and putting your future in your own hands.”

As a young black man in an industry that was still fairly white-dominated, Hervey anticipated additional difficulties of going out on his own, but he continued to put in the hours of work in order to make a name for himself.

“I think as long as you’re constantly trying to improve yourself and add strengths and deliver on your clients, you’re gonna get opportunities,” Hervey said. “… I was able to circumvent some racial stereotypes that were prevalent at the time that someone of color couldn’t be successful in the area of the business.”

Now, Hervey seeks to share what he has learned from his experiences in his new book “THE FAME GAME: An Insider’s Playbook for Earning Your 15 Minutes,” which is available for sale on all major platforms.

“The takeaway I’d like people to get from the book is that…fame is not a destination. It’s an accolade,” Hervey said. “It’s a reward that comes as a byproduct of success.”