Duke Niles

American talent manager, producer and publisher from New York. Born c.1919. He was married to show girl Thana Barclay (1945). Early in his career he was a song plugger with Leeds Music, T.B. Harris and Robbins Music in the 1940s. He was manager for Ray Ventura, Ray's nephew, singer Sacha Distel, The Village Stompers among many others. In 1956, Duke and Ray Ventura joined forces in the publishing companies Rayven Music Co., Inc. (Rayven, Rayven Music, Rayven Music Corp. , Rayven Music Co., Inc. and Rayven Music Co.), Showboat Songs, Inc. (Showboat Songs), & Paris Music Co. In 1966, Niles bought Ventura out of his 50% of the companies to own them wholly. Previously, Niles had managed the New York office of Capitol Records' Adrmore and Beechwood firms. Niles was instrumental in getting English words added to the song "La Belle Vie" to become "The Good Life", which became a hit for Tony Bennett in 1963. He was manager of songwriter Ruth Poll's publishing firm Maypole Music (2).