April 24th, 2025

The ‘gift’ that keeps on grooving: Local music legend Ron Murphy still has songs to share

Music is an eternal attraction. From a mother’s heartbeat to the thrum of tires on the open road and the patterns of conversation, it is with us wherever we go.

And while some people use it as background noise, for others, it is an inescapable part of their life.

Ron Murphy first became intricately involved with music at the age of five when he began singing at the Myrtle Baptist Church in his native Newton.

Over 70 years later, he is still at it.

“Singing was what people always noticed about me,” Murphy explained when asked how he started singing so young and why it has been his main passion for so long. “It was natural and I loved it.”

Having taught himself piano, Murphy eventually started his own record label (Life Records) and publishing company, Murphy & Murphy Publishing, which was formed so he could release an album to raise money for AIDS research.

When not being booked internationally for singing gigs, Murphy is also a first-call actor who will have a film called “Soul Family: A Day in the Lives” featured in the New Bedford Film Festival in April.

“I have a director who writes parts for me,” Murphy said, “and a lot of our films and my songs have been in film festivals.”

In fact, Murphy notes, his song, “I Want Your Cookie,” has been nominated for Best Original Song by the festival.

“It’s a love song about what people mean to each other,” Murphy said, smiling.

When asked how he got into acting, Murphy recalls being a theater and communications major at UMass who was cast in the Black Repertory Theater. During that time he worked with legendary director Esther Terry.

In between leading roles in “Things Fall Apart” and many other productions, Murphy also had his own band.

“It was an R&B band,” Murphy said. “It was nothing special…but it was fun.”

Musically, Murphy cites a wide range of influences, including gospel greats like Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, jazz and standard standouts like Johnny Mathis, Joe Williams (to whom he dedicated his album, “A Cup of Joe”), Ella Fitzgerald and George Gershwin, soul stars like Lou Rawls and Aretha Franklin, and Motown moguls like Smokey Robinson and the Four Tops and Temptations. It was these last two groups who most inspired his earliest professional group—The Montclairs—and Murphy was also part of a revived rendition of the popular doo-wop group The Platters, with whom he performed in Las Vegas.

Despite his wide-ranging influences, however, Murphy sees one as standing above them all.

“The church…has been my stabilizing force,” he maintained. “God and the gift of music is my strength.”

This strength has carried Murphy through many trials, including a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and the closing of a popular eatery and music venue he co-managed in downtown Boston. Through it all, Murphy has remained steadfast in his faith and his love of and dedication to the music that has helped sustain him.

“None of our lives are perfect,” he sagely observed. “Mine is definitely not.”

Despite his challenges and those he sees others facing, Murphy has been able to keep his eyes on the prize and recently restarted his performing career with a sold-out show in Woods Hole. His recent revival has led Murphy to take a special perspective on his challenges that we all could stand to heed.

“Whether you’re black, white, straight, gay…whether your fight is with alcohol, drugs, or no matter what the issues may be,” he said, “you have a blessed gift …  music is mine.”

Once you realize what your gift is, Murphy insists that you need to share it. For Murphy, that sharing came in the form of singing for years at nursing homes.

“My joy was singing,” he recalled, “but the other joy was the joy of the seniors thanking me for singing their favorite song or singing along with me.”

Another special performance memory involves the 15 years during which he sang as part of birthday tributes to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Arlington and Lowell.

“The little things that can go wrong won’t matter if you stop to think I’m doing what I love … and am lucky enough to …share it [and] bring happiness to others,” he said.

As he has been able to keep his chin up and his voice in shape for over seven decades, younger artists would do well to listen to his advice.

“Never give up,” he said sagely. “Believe in you and your dreams. Be the artist or musician you want to be. …Work hard [and] it will come.”

music, Ron Murphy