New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Rudy Ray Moore was a genius one-of-a-kind comedian who achieved legendary status for his role as Dolemite, the kung fu-fighting pimp. Now Donald H. Randell, Moore's manager and the President and CEO of the Donald H. Randell Experience, has announced an opportunity for fans to own a piece of Dolemite history. The master recordings of the entire Rudy Ray Moore main catalogue of comedy albums are up for auction through SongVest. Included are unreleased masters with outtakes from comedy shows, instrumental tracks, and more.
Moore's big break came while he was working in an L.A. record store frequented by a regular customer named Rico. He was amused by Rico's stories about an outrageous pimp named Dolemite…and the rest is comedy history.
In 1970, Moore released his first explicit comedy album as Dolemite, the groundbreaking Eat Out More Often. He followed it up with two more albums (This Pussy Belongs To Me and The Dirty Dozens) featuring jazz and R&B musicians playing in the background as Moore recited explicit rhymes about Dolemite's world of pimps, prostitutes, players, and hustlers. A number of later rap stars, including Snoop Dogg, have cited Moore as an influence on their music.
Several films were to follow, including the wildly popular Dolemite movie, as well as The Human Tornado, The Monkey Hustle, Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son-in-Law, and
Disco Godfather. Moore released albums of several of his movies - including The Cockpit album featuring the morally bankrupt Petey Wheatstraw - as well as recordings of his raucous live concerts.
Randell met Moore while the comedian was filming Petey Wheatstraw; Moore worked on and had a small part in the film. Next up was The
Disco Godfather - a film which Randell worked with Moore until the very end. With the auction, Randell hopes to continue to bring Moore back into the limelight. Moore's story was highlighted in the 2019 film Dolemite Is My Name, which starred
Eddie Murphy (who used to attend Moore's shows in L.A.). His story is also told in Randell's upcoming documentary and cartoon series that will highlight the mega-manager's time spent working with the star.
"I'm so blessed to have worked with Rudy for so many years, to have helped lift him up when he was down, and to have seen the unfiltered Rudy Ray Moore with my own two eyes," says Randall.
The SongVest auction will include the master recordings of Moore's main catalogue of comedy albums; it will not include the artist's music or the soundtracks to his movies. It will run through
September 10th at 3 PM EDT.
"Randell is offering fans of Moore's over-the-top characters and performances a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a piece of the comedy canon," said Sean Peace, President of SongVest. "The new owner of these masters have an awesome opportunity to breathe new life into Rudy's comedy and bring in brand-new audiences that will significantly increase the value."
Watch Randell's video about the auction here and learn more about him at https://randellmedia.com.
Check out the auction with SongVest at www.songvest.com.
