I just had a wonderful email exchange with legendary artist, songwriter and award winning producer Rik Tinory who was a colleague and friend to Eddy Arnold. Mr. Tinory’s credits are extensive, including Aerosmith’s Pump album, among many other classics. Click here to view his website. In his email, he shared with me a couple of insightful, huourous and emotional stories and I decided to post, with his permission, the content of the email. Please enjoy and visit his website. Mr. Tinory-Thank you so much for sharing this:
“Amazing just this week in my attic I found a book that Eddy gave to me. We have many pictures over many years of Eddy with my family, out on my boat, Etc . Eddy will be a special part of my book I am working on. I recall being with Eddy in New York negotiating a deal with RCA.we sat in this huge conference room with the RCA execs . We went to so many venues in Mass, Cohasset, Hyannis , Rhode Island, Maryland and other’s .After one of many Eddy Arnold shows in Cohasset many years ago , Eddy asked me to fetch a flashlight after the Theater turned off the lights backstage . Eddy insisted on signing an autograph for each and every fan, it was a very long line.. .we stood in the darkness with me holding the flashlight, ,at the end of the line was a toothless man from Maine , a farmer, he had a huge box with every album Eddy ever made. Eddy signed each and every one. After the last person left, Eddy and I stood in the darkness alone , Eddy gave me an intense look and said, “you know Rik when it’s so dark and the lights go down. it seems like it’s all over ” , It made me very sad, the next day he phoned me from his room to take a walk, I noticed his eyes had a glaze, he was tired. Eddy was especially sad after Richards car crash and broke down , it took a lot out of him and myself. We hugged often during that time, He told me he played James Taylor songs to Richard and it helped bring him out of a coma, it so happened at that time I was producing a Taylor family album. I also have a son Richard. After the show we went back to my house to cook up a big bag of shrimp a fan gave to Eddy, Gerard Purcell, Gabe, and my family.sat around our table, After dinners end, Eddy saw my wife Claire washing the dishes by hand, he got up and put on an apron and helped Claire wash and dry the dishes, he really loved Claire,Eddy turned to me, ”Rik you have to get this little lady a dishwasher” , I was supporting 4 little ones , but I got the money to by Claire her very first dishwasher a Kitchenaid. Each time we load the washer I think of Eddy. There are so many fond memories, It’s very important that you are keeping Eddy’s memory alive.”
