In The Dark wurde 1984 von Stanley Clarke produziert. Mit Grover Washington und Tom Browne an den Hörnern war dieses Album der perfekte Entwurf des slicken Mit-80er Boogie Funk und dieser Art des Jazz-Funk. Ayers was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in a musical family. At the age of five, Lionel Hampton gave him his first pair of mallets, which led to the vibraphone being his trademark sound for decades. The area of Los Angeles that Ayers grew up in, now known as "South Central", but then known as "South Park", was the epicenter of the Southern California Black Music Scene. The schools Roy attended (Wadsworth Elementary, Nevins Middle School, and Thomas Jefferson High School) were all close to the famed Central Avenue, Los Angeles' equivalent of Harlem's Lenox Avenue and Chicago's State Street.