Dr. Keith Harris receives an OBE for services to the Music Industry on Sept. 15, 2017 at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, Britain.
A tireless advocate for artists and campaigner for equal opportunity, Harris received an honorary doctorate by the University of Westminster in 2007, and in 2015 was awarded an OBE 2015 for services to the music industry. I have been in the music industry for over 45 years and in that time I have experienced both direct and indirect racism. In 1978 I was installed as General manager at Motown when it was a licensed label of EMI, and then told, although I had been successful in that role, that I was going to be replaced with a white person, and would I mind “looking over his shoulder to help him out”, because they were not as capable as me in some areas.
I was very fortunate to be offered a job by Stevie Wonder, which allowed me to bypass the major roadblock which was being put up in my career.