In loving memory

I started singing at my father’s side when I was just a little girl. He encouraged me to study what I dreamed of, not what felt merely practical. When stage fright shadowed me, he waited it out with patience and humor, nudging, never pushing, until I could hear my own voice clearly. He didn’t just coach a performance; he formed a passion, and I cannot thank him more for that.

A smiling older man with glasses and a white beard standing next to a smiling young woman, both hugging. They are indoors in front of a red curtain and a potted plant.

All hail caesar

A man with a mustache and goatee wearing glasses, a black button-up shirt, and a black baseball cap with a star emblem. He has earrings and is in an indoor setting with draped curtains in the background.

Caesar Augustus Roy III

February 26, 1957 — June 4, 2025

My father was the steady center of any room. Rooted, gracious, and so quick with a warm smile. He lived by simple convictions: show up, work hard, and make space for joy. A devoted son, father, grandfather, and friend, he held his friends close and is survived by so much of his family who miss him dearly.

He believed in possibility, especially for the people he loved. He encouraged passions that followed calling rather than convention, and he practiced the kind of encouragement that lingers long after a conversation ends. His counsel wasn’t loud; it was consistent, trustworthy, and shaped by a deep sense of responsibility to those around him.

All too often do people say “Music is my life,” but I truly and wholeheartedly believe that was the case for my father. He was a true softie with a bandleader’s backbone, drawn to ballads that let a lyric breathe and a melody linger. Luther Vandross and Brian McKnight were his karaoke go-tos—sung like conversations, tender and unhurried, and it’s no surprise that I inherited the same affection for love songs. He believed songs could soften a room, move people closer, and send them home lighter.

What he left behind is larger than any set list: a through-line of kindness, a standard of quiet excellence, and a legacy of care that shows up in the people he shaped. This page, and the music it inspires, carries his name forward, faithfully and with love, and I am so gracious and blessed that he provided me with the name of the very thing he loved his entire life: Melody.

A band called 'True Soul' performing indoors with seven musicians, including percussion, congas, vocals, guitar, and keyboard, all wearing red shirts, with a woman singer in the center.
A man with a beard and mustache wearing a black cap and red shirt, holding a microphone, standing next to a woman with curly hair wearing a black dress, and another man in a red shirt in the background playing drums, indoors with wooden paneling.

Everyone will always wish for more time onstage with my father, but I’m deeply grateful for what we had: 15+ years of shows, late-night rehearsals, open-mic nights, impromptu duets, kitchen harmonies, and the thousand small moments that built a life in music. He started True Soul Band, formerly known as the Old School Band, to gather people around songs that felt like home, and he led it with warmth, patience, and a standard of quiet excellence. True Soul has an amazing and loyal fan base, and we all knew we absolutely had to carry on the soul that he poured into our group. That spirit is stitched into every set list we plan and every downbeat we count, and carrying True Soul forward is how we keep his voice beside ours. I started the Melody Faye combo not too long before his passing, and he was so incredibly excited to see us shine, sending around our videos to every friend and colleague he could reach.

What we Carry Forward

Dear Dad,

Thank you for hearing the song in me before I could sing it alone. For the patience that outlasted my fear, for the standards that shaped my craft, and for the love songs that still remind me how to tell the truth. I will keep your softness and your strength in every room I enter.

I miss you. I love you. From the Third—always, for you.

A man with short dark hair and a goatee lying on a bed, smiling and holding a young child. The child has curly dark hair, light skin, and is wearing a plaid shirt. The man has medium skin tone, and the background shows a pillow and dark wall.