First, thank you so much for sharing some personal stories about Michael.  He wouldn’t have wanted them shared while he was with us, but I, being his younger sister, appreciate that others get to read what a great, generous person he was.

I was fortunate enough to visit with him numerous times in the past couple of months; these visits were some of the best times I have had with him since we were kids. He was so smart, funny, generous, a loyal sports fan (Yankees, Knicks) and despite spending a lot of time in CA, he was a true New Yorker at heart. His passion for music originated in our home in South Orange.  He turned me on to many artists/music that shaped our youth, and beyond.

I too am pissed that I’ll never get to see him again. My hero since I was a little girl; he will always be in my heart.

Sari Leon

P.S. Last spring he thought he was suffering from Covid… headaches, lethargy, etc. And his disposition changed.  Saw physicians in NYC.. battery of tests, surgery.. Yadayada.  Stage 4 glioblastoma. They moved to LA for treatment – in early October- poor prognosis.  He had minimal treatment and went downhill quickly last week.  Still was watching  basketball, golf but took drastic turn about a week ago.  Was praying he went soon…Txs for asking .. I will miss him …forever.

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I was happy to have Michael as a close friend for 42 years, and fortunate to spend a good amount of time with him during his last six months in LA.

I’ve never met anyone who approached the end with such dignity and equanimity. From his initial diagnosis, his mantra was ‘It’s fine, I’ve had a great life.’  At first I thought he was just being Michael, but it soon dawned on me he was telling the truth.  He did have a great life: lots of professional success, two great marriages, two wonderful kids, a tremendously loving wife, many friends.  He spent his last months in a beautiful house high in the hills, surrounded by family and friends.  When I left him for what turned out to be the last time, about 10 days ago, I said ‘I’ll see you next week.’  He said, with a smile, ‘If I’m still around.’

I thought he would be, but I was wrong.  I learned a lot watching him approach the end, and hope I can emulate him when my time comes.

Take care,

Jeff Gold

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Michael was a suave cool NYer. I met him during his A&M days and he did a great job making the East Coast A&M shine with style. As independents, we all looked up to Herb, Jerry and Gil. Michael represented them and their Artists well. I was down the block at Chrysalis on Madison Avenue and ran into Michael often.

I was lucky to work with him at SBK which then evolved into EMI Records Group NA. Michael was a great head of International. When I became president we traveled a lot together. Most memorable trip was to Germany. He knew his stuff and we broke Artists and records globally.

My warmest memory is when we sold SBK to EMI we were interviewing press companies. PMK was very prominent, somewhat legendary. Pat Kingsley called me to say she cannot make it to the NY offices personally but highly recommended her East Coast “right hand” Leslee Dart. Leslee was already building her reputation as a force in fil , tv and music.

When Leslee came for her tour of our offices I unexpectedly lost her on the way. I thought she was close by as I was introducing her to various executives on the sprawling floor. It turns out she stopped after I brought her to meet Michael… and it was love at first sight. A beautiful story and marriage. Michael was an awesome Dad too. I will miss him.

Daniel Glass

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I met Michael in the 70’s and both being “Jersey Boys” hit it off immediately with much in common. Michael was one of the first record company executives to understand that some promoters were “producers”. He introduced me to much of the A&M staff and helped me nurture a relationship with Gil who loved to pick my brain about what was going on in   N.Y.C. This was time period when the good labels embraced promoters and included us in helping to break their artists. As time went on another Jersey Boy (Al Cafaro) succeeded Gil and continued A&M’s artist first strategy and continued to look for good partnerships with leading promoters/producers. Then in around 1990 all three of us ended up at Polygram. Michael and Al on the A&M side and me starting Polygram Diversified Entertainment. We all stayed friends and when the Alain Levy reign was all over the three of us united and together with  my promoting and management duties formed an independent label (Hybrid Recordings). Michael retired and Al left A&M and joined me and our staff. Michael was perhaps the best networker in the business and his combination street and well educated smarts made him stand out as one of the greats in our business. I’ll miss my friend.

John Scher

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Devastating news. I met and worked with Michael at EMI in the late 90’s and he was one of the nicest and most genuine people I’ve ever met in the business. He didn’t want anything from me. He enjoyed music, the business of music, art, travel, wine, food and socializing with various people. He was likable and fun to be around. I’m sad I didn’t keep up with him. I have nothing but fond memories.

Larry Stessel

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So many of your points are so true, so spot on.  But, you touch my heart when you speak about Michael Leon.  Initially, our paths crossed in the mid-seventies when I managed a band on A&M records and Michael was east coast head of promotion.

He did a superlative job trying to get a midwest rock band, Head East, airplay in some tough markets.  The important point to me was his honesty and caring attitude whenever he brought me news.  He was then, and will always be remembered as a mensch: a person of integrity and honor.

We didn’t connect for many years after our manager/promotion rep relationship had ended, as the band departed from A&M.  Yet, to my good fortune we had a mutual personal friend, Bobby Margolis, who reintroduced us in Palm Springs. Golf was the connection for us, and we played many rounds together when he visited the desert.  He stayed at Bobby’s house with a bevy of friends making our reacquaintance seamless, and so much fun!

Thanks to Bobby, I was able to see Michael and have lunch with him in LA a few weeks ago.  He was in good spirits while knowing that his life was near the end.  It was my blessing to have seen him.  He seemed content and at peace. That, in and of itself, was who he was-happy to have lived a good life. Thank you for remembering him.

RIP, Michael.

Irv Zuckerman

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Tough to read this one Bob, not only because one can’t help but self-reflect when an artist dies, let alone someone in the business you were close with, or even of course a friend or relative. We’re all on this tightrope walk and we try to do the best for ourselves and others that we can. Speaking of doing the best for others, this post is also tough because Michael Leon was very good to me and played an important role in my life as Jim Merlis and I started Big Hassle Media out of the ashes of the Univsersal-Polygram merger in 1999. Jim started the company with Rufus Wainwright as his sole client two weeks before I joined in early Feb of that year. When I came on board, Melinda Newman was nice enough to run an item about us in her very well-read Billboard column. I hadn’t done pr for a couple of years because I left Atlantic to go to Mercury’s marketing department in 97. When I got laid off, I went back to pr thanks to Jim and was more than a little nervous about the future. I had never known Michael Leon before, but he read that item in the column and called me!! We had a great meeting the next day, and he sent me home with an advance of “Lost and Gone Forever,” by Guster. Needless to say, I fell in love with the record and I was back in business working with great artists, and I very much have Michael Leon to thank for that. SO Big Hassle hoists one for Michael Leon today. Thanks for taking a chance on us! RIP.

Ken Weinstein

Big Hassle Media

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A real gut punch to read that Michael Leon is gone.

We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same elementary school.  He was a year older and a lot taller than I was.  Long before we knew that we’d both devote the rest of our lives to music, I used to play basketball with him in his backyard.  Not too many kids our age were adept at cross-over dribbling or stopping on a dime to hit a rainbow jumper.  Michael was really flashy on the court, a Pete Maravich type.  I looked up to him and he was as decent a person as you describe.

As an aside, Michael Leon’s younger sister Sari was my first girlfriend.  The first girl I ever made out with.  The first girl who dumped me (7th grade) for another guy.  My first love lost that caused me to cry crocodile tears in front of my friends.  Sari and I made up a few months later and have remained lifelong friends to this day.  She is a music junkie/sports fanatic of the highest order and I know how devastated she must be.  Michael was her only sibling.

Michael and I were only acquaintances who hooped together because I’d be hanging out with Sari at the Leon house in the North Newstead section of South Orange, New Jersey.  We both ended up in the music business.  When I changed careers from radio/journalism/bandleader to concert promotion and moved from Boulder to San Diego, I started bumping into Michael every year at the New Music Seminar or APAP.  I chewed his ear off trying to make him aware of the new concert venue I was booking (Humphrey’s by the Bay in San Diego) so that he might steer me toward some A&M acts’ agents and managers.  I mentioned in passing that I had been the lead singer in a rock ‘n’ roll band in Boulder (Kenny & the Kritix), and had achieved some local renown before giving it up to move to San Diego.

Michael could have cared less about me as a concert promoter.  All he asked about was my band.  Could I send him a tape.  Send him a promo package.  Did I have a video.  I explained to him that my band days were over and I was trying to reinvent myself as a concert producer.  When I would see him the following year at yet another convention, the first thing he’d say was “How come you haven’t sent me a tape of your band???”  Michael Leon was the consummate A&R guy, a talent scout, music loving pathfinder.  No matter how much I told him that I wasn’t the next big thing, he wanted to hear my stuff anyway.  I have never forgotten that.

As I get ready to watch the San Diego State Aztecs try and finish their improbable/impossible journey and take down mighty UConn, I’m sad that Michael won’t be watching the game (I know that his sister Sari will be).  The first thing most people will remember about Michael Leon is his passion for music.  I remember that too, but will always first flash back to his ball handling skills and other worldly jump shot.

–Kenny Weissberg

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Michael and I both were East Coast GM’s – he A&M and I at Elektra.  I was so jealous of his ponytail that I grew one.

Bill Berger

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I got hired to do local Boston promo for A&M in 1981…Michael Leon was the GM of the East Coast office in NYC. He flew me down to welcome me into the A&M “family”. Working at A&M

did feel like a family. and yes, I agree Michael was “warm and intelligent”…always enjoyed our work together and conversations…thank you Michael for being a gentleman in a business where that was not

so common…. gone way too soon…RIP…

Peter Wassyng

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This is very very sad news indeed.

Michael was one of the first people that I met in the industry when I started at Arista as an advertising copywriter right out of college.

In addition to his love of music and of New York, he was also a huge sports guy, and we played a lot of pick up basketball together and were teammates on a very good Arista Records cormpany softball team.

I hadn’t really seen him since he moved to LA but am very shocked and saddened to read of his passing.

RIP

Stephen Dessau

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Thanks, Bob. I enjoyed that. I knew and loved Michael Leon   I spent five years doing promotion for A&M. He WAS smart and he was elegant and a gentleman. Not many like him.  Wish I had stayed in touch. And everything else you said rang true too. We’re the same age (I think) and it’s interesting how the reality of situations and people get clearer every year. Our time is looming. I still feel good. Still work a few records. And still have a few laughs    So maybe I will outlast everyone!

Patti Martin

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I had the pleasure of working with Michael during my MTV days both in the U.S. with A&M and later in Europe where he wore the SBK flag.  I knew Michael professionally, but once at a lunch we went off topic and started  talking about life and things other than music.

There I learned of his passion for baseball and his NY Yankees.  He told a story I’m sure he’d told many times, but as a “brother in baseball”, I was riveted when he told me that as a kid (I think he was around 9) his father pulled Michael and his brother out of school and they bore witness to an event that has never happened before or since and most likely won’t ever again…a perfect game (thrown by Don Larsen) in the 1956 World Series.  His attention to every detail was that of a historian, but the glee and joy in that conveyance was that of Michael’s inner kid.  RIP ML…

Brian Diamond

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I wanted to tell you something, you, actually YOU are the main reason I have started to go to the doctor. I’m a 43 year old roadie and former army ranger, my saying was if The taliban couldn’t kill me what else can. Then reading your notes and constant talk about regular illness and doctors made me second guess. I guess it’s because I have been reading your letter for so long that I have to admit sometimes I see you as my friend and I worry about you. Nonetheless, thanks for doing what you do. I have begun to take my health more seriously and dropped the bravado because of you. Thanks man.

Andy Cormack

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So sorrt to hear about Michael, he was one of the really nice ones. Lots of golfing together. All this is reallys scary, as I am almost 77, and plan on making it well past 80.  Gotta last at least as long as your sister Jill and my boss, Mr. Buffett.   Cross your fingers

Harold Sulman
President, Mailboat Records

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I always admired his charm and  fun

Bobby Tarantino

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Michael Leon……a class act.

Mike Bone

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I liked Mike Leon a lot, he was gracious. I looked forward to working with him on A&M acts. In the early ’80s when I was at DIR our offices were directly across 57th St from the beautiful building where A&M’s offices occupied the penthouse.

Paul Zullo

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Thanks for this. My wife and I host a retreat each year at onsite for parents who lost kids. Out of order is hard to ever accept but it does bring the two worlds closer together, and makes parents not fear death as much .  Coming from a city which is still is reeling from last Monday’s shooting

John Huie

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I think it is time for NARAS or the Rock Hall to fund a Music Industry Hall of Fame. No voting… with just a few requisites. A memorialization of those who helped to make the music and those artists to be heard.

There’s a very long list… and one day we will be on that list.

Bruce Garfield

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It seems like everyone is passing away – an acceleration of the stars and singers and music bosses and producers that were as gods to me.

Some of them are so arcane they pass with barely a notice, but for those who were, well, say for me when I was 15-24 – they will forever remain. And when they pass – my heart stops.

death of despair.

I wrote music for film and tv for 30 years and in 48 hours it ended. If you don’t know what meniere’s disease is google Huey Lewis. Meniere’s disease. I have suffered with it for so long, and it is horrific. It’s like being a painter for your whole life and waking up blind. My case is worse than Huey Lewis’ – but reach out to me Huey. I could use someone to talk to. Or try to. Friggin’s stars you guys. Right side along Michael. I remember Clover! And your voice – the hits – you must be so grateful for them. And now you are fly fishing in Wyoming. I know what you feel. I know. I live it every day.

When you get Meniere’s comorbid with diplacusis dysharmonica you cannot hear pitch anymore. One ear hears a Bb, the other a D. So it renders all music atonal serial horror. You can’t play, sing, go to concerts, listen to any of the music you wrote. When Burt Bacharach  died I tried to hear “Raindrops keep Fallin’ On My Head” thru my laptop with specialized eq – it was so sad. I couldn’t hear any of it. All the songs that defined me, everything I found on my own – becoming a successful composer for decades – only to face being tone deaf and prone to vertigo attacks beyond description.

It was not the way I imagined my retirement. I had worked long and hard enough to travel the word, write my own music – but now I can hardly do anything. My body is strong. My will is strong. Nothing has ever knocked me down. So…

Assisted suicide is now legal in many states and started in, err, Sweden?

You don’t die because of meniere’s, you die with it. It is progressive, chronic and incurable. You become anhedonic and agoraphobic. It occurs differently for everyone. In many cases, or some, or few, I don’t really know – it leads to Alzhiemer’s and then dementia.

That is when I will go. Here in Washington State it is legal. I was very successful for a long time and I make a decent amount of money from royalties. Enuf money that I pay the same for Medicare as Bill Gates does, while it still gets taken out of my own check from my own corporation. Plan A B and D – if you are getting there do a deep dive.

I will not have my precious, loving children standing by my side at my hospital room looking at me drooling and saying “now who are you again?”, when the person I am talking to is my daughter. Oh my baby, remember my swagger, remember my music. My fans. Remember my Emmy nomination, Ascap award, remember me playing guitar to soothe you to sleep. I was never a star. But I always got on base.

For as much as it will hurt you and your brother for life, it is already so hard to keep going. At 67. And a better end than suicide. They interview you. Analyze you. Talk to you. And if  it seems like the right thing they put you in a chair, put the IV in you, but then you have to turn the knob yourself.

I didn’t see things ending this way.

William Anderson

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From: Dan Navarro

We live as long as we live. Some get more, some get less. No one gets out alive, and every day above ground is a good one. Period. Any illusion to the contrary is psycho. And we have lots of friends who are psycho.

BUT… how we live is the real battle. Do we value every day? Do we laugh every day? Do we stop complaining about bullsh*t little things? Do we invest in community and the generation coming up? Do we learn the landscape on the horizon? Do we value new, different, unknown, outside the comfort zone? Nothing worth a sh*t ever came from a comfort zone.

Or do we petrify our mindset and maintain a death grip on what is no longer possible. Do we still use outdated standards as we navigate the obstacle course of the immediate present, oblivious to the future.

Our industry has changed, irretrievably. Yeah, it was better before, when it was fresh, important, inspiring, and the public ethos revolved around what an artist said or did in their creations. I sure hung on every word and every note. Just like you did.

I mean, hell, I’m not in the music business any more. Haven’t been for years. I just make music for a living in the niches, where I found an eager and generous audience. And I’ve managed to learn what is still relevant — communication.

It means driving thousands of miles a year, setting up my own gear, little sleep, more than a few frustrations, some broken field running, and planning my moves pretty much alone (though I do have an agent, a digital coordinator and a social media person). My journeyman career is still productive, profitable and worth-it. I’ve had fun. A boatload of fun, and I’m still having it, very fricking day.

Why am I writing this? I’m older than you, by a few months, we’ve compared notes on that before. My health is good, somehow I still have my all hair, not even receding, and it’s still 90% not grey (not so for my beard, LOL). Nothing but genetics and still more dumb luck.

And, like you, I’m losing people like crazy. My age, older, younger. Croz, Jeff Young, David Lindley, Peter Cooper, Chicago legend Lin Brehmer (closest friend of the bunch), never mind Lisa Marie, Kirstie Alley, Michael Rhodes, Tom Leadon, Jeff Beck, or Michael Leon or Seymour Stein, none of whom I knew. Seems like a new one every week. Or every day.

We notice it because we are aging and not dying just yet.

As we’ve discussed, Eric Lowen died at 60, eleven years ago. He didn’t get to see 70. We were 30 years together and at 60 I had to reinvent. Nothing blasted fresh air into my perspective more than that. He’s gone, and I’m still here. Time to get to work and be more grateful for the time I have left, determined to spend it vigorously doing what I love every single day. Use it or lose it.

Dude, you’re tops at your game, and still throwing punches. Your health appears to be under control. You’re in a good relationship and you are still vertical and above ground, with a platform. Your perspective is razor sharp and you still care about the new even as you reminisce about the old.

Let’s face it. You won.

xx
dn

Hi Bob:

Long term friend Stephen Budd copied me in on your recent email relating to the sad departure of Seymour Stein.  I felt compelled to respond…so here goes!

Your observations and stories about Seymour have had me reminiscing since I woke up this morning.  We go back a long, long way that’s for sure…mid to late 1960s when I was primarily working for The Decca Record Company Ltd.  My plans to launch my own record Blues label were already underway by 1964…some three and a half years later Peter Green left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac and then I had to leave the staff at Decca to become an Independent Producer. I guess that was around the time I first met Seymour…the Windsor Blues Festival that he alluded to amongst those emails that you listed. Anyway, I truly do not have the time right now to delve back into my memory ‘bank’ but I would like to say how much I enjoyed reading about those priceless memories.  He was very kind to me in those early days…flew me to New York and put me up at his apartment.  Showed me Chinatown…introduced me to Henry Glover and Bobby Robinson…and endless stories, mainly about Syd Nathan!  He could tell a story too with impersonations and sound effects…hilarious.  They were great times…never to be forgotten and never to be beaten either.

I will check my Inbox so see what I have from the man himself…we were corresponding about this and that but not sure about the content.  That was at the time when the Blue Horizon label was being resurrected…maybe three years ago?  I was in touch with both Seymour and his daughter Mandy.

Anyway, thank you again for brightening up what would have been a very sad day.  We will all be celebrating his life as he surely gave so much to us.  One of a kind…gone but never to be forgotten.  R.I.P. Seymour Steinbigle

Best to you…

MIKE VERNON MBE

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I first met Seymour in the seventies when I was in the international division at EMI. I had managed to get the USA as one of my “markets” and started licensing records that Capitol would not, or had not released in the USA. He had Sire, an indie then, and a series of compilation albums called The roots of British rock I believe. He came to see me at EMI but before he came I checked his deals to find that he had not possibly been accounting “regularly”. So I arranged with the lawyer at EMI that he would come in halfway through the meeting and threaten him for non payment as a sort of spoof. Well Seymour gave me the best line ever. He said “I have live artists. I have to pay them before I pay your dead artists.” I ended up licensing him some more records and licensed his partner at Jem an early Floyd solo record that had been out for ten years in the UK. Rupert Perry threatened to get  me fired for that but Bob Mercer stood by me. When I went in to A and R at EMI we stayed in touch and later on at Polygram I managed to give him as many records as I could including Tainted love, the deal for which we did on a napkin in some dive. He was one of the greats and enjoyed all sorts of music. I even  licensed him the great David Rudder from Trinidad who we signed to London with him taking the US. He was a regular at Carnival in Trinidad and went to the tents there where he knew all the calypsonians performing.What a great record guy.

Roger Ames

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Great piece on Seymour.

He was a wonderful character.

I would often bump into him in London, not going to shows but buying antiques and paintings.

He loved going to the auctions.

This was his great hobby.

Seymour was from the great era of finding fabulous artists and selling them to anyone who would listen.

He had amazing foresight in choosing his music.

He will be greatly missed.

Harvey Goldsmith

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BEST POSTING EVER, A COLLECTION OF SEYMOUR COMMENTS, THANKS BOB

I KNEW SEYMOUR AND LINDA IN THE 70’S WHEN THEY SIGNED MY FIRST BAND ( I WAS THE ROAD MANAGER)  STANKY BROWN GROUP TO SIRE.

EVERYTHING I HAVE READ DESCRIBING SEYMOUR IS TRUE AND THEN SOME, I’LL LEAVE MY STORIES FOR ANOTHER DAY AND TO THOSE WHO KNEW HIM BETTER

BERT HOLMAN

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Wow!
Those emails are incredible!
He was always completely charming when I met him.
One of the all time greats.
They don’t make them like him anymore.

Richard Griffiths

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Thanks for sharing your Seymour Stein stories and letters. I was fortunate to have spent some time with him when he attended a Gountty Radio.Seninar convention at the Opryland Hotel sometime in the 90s. I had met him before through our mutual friend Richard Gottehrer, at a Madonna party at the Red Parrot and several times before that in the 70s at CBGBs, but we had never had the chances to talk. He was a record man who really loved the music, and I had learned not to take that for granted. Folks who worked with him at King had told me that he could identify any record in their catalog by number  He was full of great stories as expected.  Truly one of the all time greats.

Ed Salamon

Nashville  TN

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Very sad news to wake up to this morning, I can’t count on the number of Sire Records in my collection, from a reissue of the Nuggets garage rock compilation (originally on another groundbreaking Warner acquisition, Elektra) through the Ramones and Talking Heads to the English Beat and Echo & the Bunnymen, and of course Madonna (I have nearly all of her 12” singles, right up to her dismantling of American Pie). One of the best hours of my life was spent in Seymour’s company, when he came to Halifax for the East Coast Music Awards & Conference (and also for the seafood, I’m sure), and he invited me to lunch after we’d had a particularly robust phone interview (we even talked about the Strangeloves, and Manny’s Music Store) before he came to town.

It was a fun, freewheeling chat about music and some of his other passions. Mostly I remember asking him why the Monkees weren’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (“Because some people in charge say it’ll happen over their dead bodies”) and asking him if he grew up listening to the Yiddish comedy records of Mickey Katz, whereupon he told me a story about recently being at a birthday party for Jennifer Grey, daughter of Broadway legend Joel Grey, whose father was Mickey Katz, the original “Weird Al” Yankovic of parody songs. I gather they sang a few bars of The Barber of Schlemiel and Duvid Crockett, King of Delancey Street together. He asked me what some of my favourite Sire artists were, and Echo & the Bunnymen came to mind, which apparently was a signing he was very proud of, even if they didn’t get a North American hit until their fourth album with The Killing Moon, a song that’s become an indie-goth classic, and is frequently licensed for film and TV shows. I loved that Seymour played the long game, and let artists develop their talent, and believed in the power of a strong catalogue. My life would have been very different without Sire Records as its soundtrack.

 

~Stephen Cooke

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He wasn’t the average record exec indeed. He was one of a kind and I too was privileged to know him. If you had one conversation with him about music, you would immediately understand the depth of his knowledge on music: he would reference songs and artists I had never heard of, ad infinitum. It was like taking a Master Class on pre-Beatles rock and roll and music business. One time we were at a Thai restaurant and he stopped eating and paused when a random song came on the restaurant’s stereo system, he looked perplexed and confused while he was trying to place the song and then eventually he smiled that cheshire cat smile and said in that Brooklyn accent of his, ‘it’s Leiber and Stoller of course…they were just the absolute best!’.

I didn’t know him in his 80’s heyday, but through his daughter Mandy, I got to know him and spend time with him in the last 15 years of his life. He really liked a Joseph Arthur tribute record to Lou Reed I was involved with (he pointed out he and Lou were born a month apart and that he had released his ‘New York’ record) and wanted to sign it but couldn’t get his team on board. Regardless he wanted the other label interested (Vanguard) to know he was interested with hopes that it would get the advance and their enthusiasm up. I thought that was a classy move. He also once tried to put me in touch with Morrisey, who I had expressed interest in managing but forewarned ‘you do know what you’re getting yourself into, right?!”.

In 2011 he came to Montreal for the Pop Montreal Festival and I met him at the airport, brought him into the city and later at night, when I figured he would probably prefer sleeping, we met up and went around to some clubs, checking out acts. He would hobble his way up and down flights of stairs with his cane but once he was in the room and there was music being played, you could tell he was in his element. He would soak it all in and afterwards would bounce around introducing himself to these young acts saying he was ’Seymour Stein from Sire Records,’ and I would wonder if these young acts had any idea of who he was and what greatest they were standing in front of.

The last time I saw him was at the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I walked in and saw him sitting down so I went to say hi to him. He immediately pulled out his phone and called Mandy and handed me his phone so I could say hi to her. What an amazingly soulful man he was, and true visionary.

Peter Wark

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My best Seymour story : Apologies for brevity , am on the move…

We managed Ian McCulloch in the 90s signed to Sire/Warners.

I drove Seymour from London to Liverpool. He fell asleep so I ragged his car and did 156 mph down the M1. He then woke up and was laughing encouraging me!!! He said it was the fastest he’d ever been and it woke him up. It was 1995 and you could do it then. Not now with cameras etc. We were going up to see Electrafixion play at the lomax. Mac and Will (Echo and the Bunnymen) had just got back together and were speaking again for the first time since the Bunnymen split years earlier at their peak. I took him to the Jung Wah – best chinese rezzo ever in Liverpool, sadly no longer there. My great grandparents lived there originally (before Chinatown) when they got off the boat from Russia in the early 1900s thinking they were in NY! I explained the history and he laughed his head off again. He absolutely loved the food – traditional Cantonese. We actually saw one of his bands there – the long forgotten  Singing Ringing Tree. We then all went to the lomax for the gig. And then I drove him back to London – at a more conservative 130 mph -  after hanging out with Mac backstage. He said it was one of the best nights ever!!!

Darren Michaelson

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Thank u for this stunning ‘from-the-horses-mouth’ view of Seymour Stein.

He traversed the world continually seeking the very best in music – so we were lucky to meet him even here in South Africa. He had success with Johnny Clegg and Juluka from Johannesburg – and continued to scour our musical landscape.

In Cape Town and Joburg we had lunches and dinners of epic proportions – with all the stories in your article – and many more.

The best was when Seymour would fearlessly sing all these songs of yesteryears with great love and joy – in his shaky but beautiful voice – lyric perfect. He would do this in the middle of restaurants. He would astound us by ordering double main courses!

I loved him. The only disagreement we ever had was whether Chubby Checker should be in the Rock Hall of Fame. His opinion was an emphatic ‘no’ – whilst I thought he should be. Not sure who ultimately prevailed …

He was a mensch. He made our music business a place of true magic.

Salutations, Seymour

Patric van Blerk

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This really hit me hard.

I was always amazed that you would see Seymour at all the showcase events around the world. Checking the bands out. Cane in hand. I saw him everywhere. We spoke about China and India often. He always had time to say hello.

The conferences then started having him do the “this is your life” keynotes/panels – and then the book tour – but it was always the shows that blew my mind. This guy – out in the clubs – doing what I was doing and doing what none of his peers were. Hell – you didn’t even see the A+R’s out, but there he was. My youth was shaped by Sire.

I hate to see a true music man go. Really one of the last label heads that you can name and that you care about – that was out there.

I was trying to think of Sire releases that were not good. There were not many! When I worked in retail as a kid  – there were not a lot of Sire releases in the cut out bin. Lot’s of MCA and Atlantic!

I did get to have dinner with Seymour. Chinese of course. You are so right about his eating. What a production!

I will really miss seeing him out there.

Adam Lewis

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Excellent salute to Seymour Stein, Bob. His encyclopedic knowledge of music never ceased to astonish, and extended to Chinese pop hits of the 40’s and 50’s. I was up in his office once and mentioned I had an album out of Chinese pop classics from that era—and he proceeded to sing a famous Chinese song, “Megui, Megui”, a/k/a “Rose, Rose, I Love You”,  in the original Mandarin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vv-tgoab0 Not only that, but he informed me that the song’s singer Yao Lee was still alive and in her 90’s living in Hong Kong—and that her song had been re-recorded with totally different lyrics in English by Frankie Laine, where it made #3 on the Billboard pop charts in 1953. Another time I ran into him at Pop Montreal and over tea lobbied him for inclusion of Captain Beefheart in the Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame, telling him that most of the artists he’d signed during the Punk era would agree with me. He looked at me and with a straight face said, “Gary, my friend Neil Sedaka’s not in there! How do you think I feel about that??” Total legend!

Gary Lucas

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My old group Morcheeba was signed by Seymour to Sire after Jac Holzman had our first couple of albums on Discovery.

Seymour loved us. We couldn’t believe our luck we had no ambitions to break the States, we were doing great Worldwide but to be signed by two of the greatest golden eared moguls of all time was all I needed. Talk about a pat on the back.

Whenever we were in the same city Seymour would take us to the best restaurants and tell us great stories. We were sitting at a swanky eatery in Manhattan and Michael Caine walked in. Life was never dull when Seymour was in town. Our song “Rome wasn’t built in a day” was one of his all time favourites and he used to croak the melody to us. We were so happy hanging. They said he used to collect British bands and Antiques from West London, and he had great taste for both. He lasted much longer than I imagined given his lifestyle but he always had that great smile and those sparkling blue eyes so I guess he had other plans. Rest in Peace Seymour! You gave a young British man validation beyond his imagination. Thank you.

Paul Godfrey

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I was incredibly fortunate to work for two absolute legends in my record label days – and Seymour was one of them.  Sire Records was a bit of a mess by the time I got there in the late 90’s, but working in the West Coast A&R Dept with Bud Scoppa and Andy Paley was definitely a career highlight.  If you were courting a band and you were able to get Seymour to a dinner with them – he was magic.  He had an incredible ear and was responsible for so many of my favorite bands and records; it was both and honor and a thrill to work for and get to know him.

-Gregg Bell

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Seymour called me out of the blue about ten years ago because he wanted to get his memoirs out before it was too late.  My friend Ivo Watts-Russell referred him to me.  He didn’t have a literary agent but had heard through grapevine I could help him get a writer and a book deal with an editor at a major house with no agent fees.  He was right, and I got him superb music writer Gareth Murphy, plus SMP editor extraordinaire, Elizabeth Beier.  Even though extracting the right stories from Seymour was painful, Siren Song was a damn good book.  Some stories pissed people which attested to the accuracy. Mo Ostin was not pleased.

But it was just fun hanging out with Seymour, him stopping mid sentence in a story to call Andy Paley to make the details were right.

And there was always food, messy but delicious.  And too much wine.

He lived big, a true character.

Jeff Capshew

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Beautiful tribute Bob.

Seymour Stein was cut from a different cloth.  Nobody knew music like he did.

I just went back to listen to your interview from 2018.

I loved this interview too from 4 years ago in Please Kill Me.

‘SHELLAC IN HIS VEINS’: AN INTERVIEW WITH SEYMOUR STEIN

I had the pleasure of hanging with him a couple times.

It was in foreign countries as you said, where he actually spent time chatting with me.   The times we bonded the most was Tel Aviv. A music conference called Tune-In Tel Aviv.  I remember he came out to all the shows and stayed almost to the end.  Walking up stairs with his cane probably in pain but you would never have known.   He was a trooper and a music fan through and through!

I don’t think I ever heard him laugh but he definitely smiled the few times I saw him.

I saw him many times at MIDEM too but that was earlier on in my career and he never seemed to remember me.

The first great convo I had with Seymour was about the British Invasion.

I was able to tell him The Zombies had a record deal and he was ecstatic to hear about that and very keen to hear the new album.   He loved The Zombies. He said they’ll get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame one day! That was in 2015. Then I saw him in NYC at the Polar Music Prize Polar Talks which I helped produce. That was up in Harlem.

The last convo we had was right after the 2019 Inductees were announced!  I had told him about a new artist I was repping called AJ Smith and had asked if he had received his material.   He wrote this below.

“Glad about the Zombies.   Big representation from UK this year,  including Sire band the Cure.

FYI, I’m not working at present time. Hopefully, soon.

OK to resend A.J. Material.

Best,

Seymour

I’m forever grateful and honored to have had that time with an industry giant!  It really feels like the end of an era!

Fiona Bloom

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This was a wonderful read.

When I was working with Ted Templeman on his autobiography he told me many times that Seymour had an encyclopedic knowledge of 20th c. music of all genres. Exact quote from a few years back from Ted: “Seymour worked for King Records. That label was one of my first inspirations. He’s a historian. He knows everything. Early rock and roll? Ruth Brown. Wynonie Harris. Seymour knows that stuff cold.  James Brown — Seymour told me that Tammi Terrell was James Brown’s girlfriend. Seymour told me Elvis was blonde! A blonde guy. He said he naturally had hair like mine. I didn’t know any of that! He’s the most fascinating, greatest guy in the world.”

I loved reading Seymour’s emails and your tribute to him. Thank you.

Greg Renoff

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Best meeting I ever had with a record executive was with Seymour. Danny Fields was managing a new, young artist that Seymour wanted to sign, so Danny arranged for me to go up to meet with Seymour.  We met in his office and after some niceties, he took a business card and wrote the deal points for my client’s contract on the back of the card … then sent me down to business affairs to give it to them and tell them to do that  deal with me for the artist.

Wallace Collins

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Seymour called my band mate and I in 2018 regarding one of our singles. We knew nobody would believe us so we actually recorded the conversation. He loved the song and wanted to hear more. Unfortunately nothing ever happened but it was a pretty cool moment to have a legend in the biz call you. RIP.

Danny Jay

Shytown

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Don’t forget he signed Ice T.  The first “rapper” signed to a major record company on the west coast- and maybe in the United States

Eric Greenspan

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Bob: Seymour moment: Although acquired by WB in 1978, Sire/WB released “Reel To Reel ” by Climax Blues Band in 1979 (and “Shine On” in 1978).  First band to record at AIR Studios in Montserrat, West Indies (now abandoned after epic island volcano eruption).  Major artistic departure for the band to go “mainstream” with major rotation on AOR and formatted radio in the States at the time.  I played the elpee non-stop and thus spread the word throughout various U.S. industry channels.  Soon thereafter, Seymour called my office to express his appreciation.  We never met prior. We spoke for over half an hour.  From Frank and Nancy Sinatra (see producer Lee Hazlewood) to artists of the day. 

Very sad day indeed.

Scott Hazlewood

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The Great Seymour.

You’re so right about his music from the 30s and 40s.

One time we were driving up PCH in Malibu. I asked him what his favorite song was. (An impossible question…I know, I know.)

He said, “Little Yellow Bird.” (The song performed by a 20-year-young Angela Lansbury in the 1945 film “The Picture Of Dorian Gray.”)

Then, he sang the whole song from memory. I thought he was going to cry. Maybe he did.

Goodbye, Little Yellow Bird
I’d rather brave the cold
On a leafless tree
Than a prisoner be
In a cage of gold

Seymour. He sure LOVED his music.

Bobby Woods

He wasn’t the average record exec.

Although I first met Seymour at the Troubadour, when he approached me about something I wrote and then went into a story about Syd Nathan, it wasn’t until 2004, when I went to Tony Wilson’s In The City conference in Manchester, that we began to hang, began to bond.

Tony left us over a decade ago. Talk about being cut down before your time, he was still in his fifties. Now that was an atypical record exec. Tony was the most educated man I knew, he could opine about seemingly anything, with a gleam in his eye, I was privileged to know him.

And I was privileged to know Seymour too.

First and foremost Seymour would go to In the City. Other conferences. No one else with his status and success would. But you’d see Seymour all over the world, always soaking up the flavor, looking for new acts and looking for good food. Seymour loved not only Chinese, but other cuisines. He’d put that napkin in his collar and… If you ever ate with him you know what I’m talking about. Well, let me just say his manners were not the best, as in food dripped and splattered, but if Seymour were still here he wouldn’t be offended, he’d double-down, and make an excuse.

You see Seymour was a hypochondriac, he was always complaining about something. He was in the hospital when he signed Madonna. He couldn’t come out for Evelyn Ostin’s funeral because there was a problem with his leg… He’d shuffle along, ultimately with a cane, but that was Seymour, he was a fixture, you thought he’d be here forever. But he was pissed when Warner took the Sire name from him. How could anybody else run Sire?

So if you knew Seymour long enough you got his history. About going to Ohio for the summer to work for Syd Nathan. Most people in the music business this successful are thousand watt hustlers. Seymour’s light was turned down quite a bit. He was not a ranter and a raver, not that he couldn’t raise his voice, but he was more like that guy you knew in high school, who you talked to but seemed to be invisible to not only the girls, but the popular people.

Of course Seymour was gay. But it was a different era. I’ll leave it at that.

So, you’ve heard the stories about “Billboard,” etc., but the thing about Seymour is I’d hear from him on a regular basis, usually about songs I was completely unfamiliar with. They’d been hits in the forties, or fifties, even the thirties. He was inspired by something I wrote. This is not the kind of e-mail I get from most record execs. They might send you an album or a track they’re promoting, but to discuss music, during business hours…that’s for business.

With Seymour music came first.

And he was a fan.

Yes, he started licensing records from England. Did have success with Focus and “Hocus Pocus” and Fleetwood Mac, but… The best stories Seymour would tell were about signing English acts. It’s hard to believe, even long after the Beatles, but there were still English acts that went unnoticed in the U.S. Seymour wanted to get there first. So one day he read about an act in one of the English music papers, might have been the NME or “MelodyMaker,” and immediately went to the airport and took the Concorde to see them and sign them that night. He didn’t pack a suitcase, he didn’t bring any clothes. I think it was the Psychedelic Furs, don’t hold me to it.

And Seymour signed a lot of acts. And when money was short… He’d employ shenanigans to make sure he got the band.

He’d go to some publisher and say that really they should be in the record business. And if this publisher or other music business person would put up the money, they could be 50/50 partners with Seymour. He did this more than once. And ultimately, after selling Sire to Warner, they’d continually tell him he couldn’t get any more money, couldn’t sign any more acts, but that didn’t stop him, it was a passion, he had no time for the bean counters.

Not that he didn’t know how to make a deal. That’s how you get rich in the business, owning copyrights to your advantage.

And Seymour’s legend preceded him. With the CBGB scene if nothing else.

Believe me, unless you were living in NYC you didn’t know about CBGB’s. And the Ramones… Even aficionados didn’t know the band had released records until the second, “Leave Home.” It was only by time the third, “Rocket to Russia” with “Rockaway Beach,” was released, that people realized this was a real act, committed to success, much more talented than they’d originally perceived. You see the Ramones were seen as a novelty, a curio, a one and done. I mean when were they gonna give up on the joke? And just to be clear, you may see their t-shirts everywhere, but they never ever had a hit, and they toured in vans long after others had graduated to jets, which preceded the ubiquity of buses. And I wonder what was in the air in those vans that all four original members are now deceased.

And the Talking Heads couldn’t be more different from the Ramones. The only thing they really had in common was they both played CBGB’s. And were from a new, younger generation, not born in the forties, but the fifties. As for CBGB’s… Hilly Kristal pivoted from his original concept and hosted all these new acts when his original paradigm didn’t work. Politicians may not change their mind, but to succeed in art you must be ready to pivot, and it’s those with nothing, or very little, willing to put it all on the line, who succeed.

Not that Seymour was a complete anomaly. There were tons of New York music men who were younger than the fifties legends, who knew each other, who worked together, like Gary Kurfirst, who started as a promoter, managed Mountain and then the Talking Heads and more. It was a club. And the music came first. As much money as the Beatles made, big money for most acts didn’t come until Peter Grant flipped the script and demanded almost all of the cash from live shows go to the acts, in his case Led Zeppelin, which was a guaranteed sellout.

But then came the eighties, with the twin verticals of MTV and CDs and money rained down in heretofore unfathomable numbers. Before that you were a musical act, after that you were a brand. And then Kurt Cobain came along and once again upset the apple cart, by hearkening back to the days of punk. It might sound raw and edgy, but that does not mean it can’t have melody. The Ramones knew that.

As for Madonna… Seymour could see something.

Seymour was neither too big nor moving too fast to stop and talk to you, to call you, to spend time with you. And if you were with him one on one, in person, he’d start to smile and it made you feel good, makes me feel good just thinking about it now.

But there were the stories. Always the stories. There are plenty of people who can testify about post-Beatles music, but Seymour’s knowledge went way back, like I said, music came first. Mo Ostin fell into music. Clive Davis was a lawyer. Walter Yetnikoff? Even Bhaskar Menon… Seymour was sui generis, one of a kind.

And then when I got pemphigus foliaceus back in 2016… Seymour reached out and asked for my Jewish name, I had to call my mother to get it, I didn’t remember it, and then had a rabbi in Europe pray for me.

There’s humanity right there.

Seymour’s records are a legacy few can equal.

But if you knew Seymour… He wasn’t like anybody else, he was anything but aloof, you’d see him in some foreign country and he’d come up to you like you saw him yesterday. There was a lot of tragedy in his life, but he also touched a lot of people.

Including me.

P.S. I’m gonna print some e-mails I received over the years from Seymour to amplify my above points.

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Savoy Brown were one of the best of several British Blues bands produced by Mike Vernon.Another great Blues band Mike produced at Decca was Ten Years After.

Mike was at Decca, back in the mid-60’s.Like most staff producers, Mike could do just about anything.He produced David Bowie’s first recordings, released under his real name David Jones.

Perhaps best known for producing John Mayall’s Blues Breakerswhich provided launching pad for Eric Clapton. Other members included Peter Green,Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. The Blues Breakers we’re responsible for starting the British Blues movement in the UK. When any members asked Mayal for more money he would promptly fire them; seems there wasalways someone new ready to fill their shoes.

When Peter, Mick and John all confronted Mayall for a raise, thinking there might be strength in numbers, he fired them all. Mike Vernon suggested they start their own band and launched Blue Horizon Records, as home to Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and the rest is history.

On Blue Horizon,Fleetwood Mac’s early hits included, “Albatross,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Need Your Love So Bad.”

Soon after, Mike signed Chicken Shack, fronted by Stan Webb with Christine (McVie) Perfect, on keyboards.Christine had her first hit, “I’d Rather Go Blind” on Blue Horizon, before leaving the band and eventually joining Fleetwood Mac.

Othergreat Blue Horizon artists were Duster Bennett and Johnny Almond.

Mike also brought Fleetwood Mac to Chess studios in Chicago and co- produced with Marshall Chess, an amazing set of recordings with blues greats Otis Spann,Willie Dixon and many of the other Chess blues players.

Mike Vernon is very much responsible for the British Blues movement in the UK.

In addition, Mike produced Sire’s first million selling single, “Hocus Pocus” and Gold album “Moving Waves” both by Dutch band, Focus, I signed to Sire.

Mike also produced an amazing album with Sire artist, Martha Velez, “Fiends and Angels,” which featured Eric Clapton, Stan Webb and Paul Kosoff, all on guitar,Christine Mc Vie on piano, Jack Bruce on bass, Brian Auger on organ, one of two fabulous albums Martha released on Sire.The other was “Escape From Babylon” produced in Jamaica by Bob Marley, early on in his career.Her version of “Get Up, Stand Up” was I believe, first recording of the song.

In my opinion, British Blues do not get enough credit for their contribution to music in the late 1960’s and beyond and most certainly Mike Vernon was greatly responsible for this.

All the best,

Seymour

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Ron Delsener was legendary in the live end of the business,when it was real struggle and and not always appreciated.

You had Bill Graham and Chet Helms in San Fransisco and Ronnie on the east coast.The role these men played in live end of Rock & Roll was monumental.I cherished the collection of 45’s I started amassing as a kid,but nothing matched those live events, which for me, as a kid, began with Alan Freed, first in Ohio and later in Brooklyn and Manhattan,which was my first mass exposure to live music,as a preteen kid beginning in Brooklyn at the Paramount and Fox Theatre’s during the Christmas and Easter breaks.and also R&B Jocks like WOV’s Jocko Henderson,Hal Jackson on WBLS others at the Apollo year round.

There were also similar radio shows in Chicago, hosted by E. Rodney Jones on great station, WVON, owned by the Chess brothers and live shows at the Regal,Jerry Blavat, Hot Rod, Fat Daddy and many others in Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC in Theatre’s like the Uptown. Royal and Howard.

One of my jobs, when I worked for King Records, still in my teens was going on the road with James Brown, when he headlined those shows.Only one who could compete on that level of performance was Jackie Wilson, a great athlete who could do many splits continuously on stage.

Marshall Chess, Leonard’s son and Ron Alexenberg would be good people to interview if you want top notch coverage of this live scene.

Only, just back in New York.Rough flight back.My bags missed the connection at Heathrow and only arrived 30 minutes ago.

All the best,

Seymour

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Mentoring taught and helped me achieve what I accomplished at Sire.Had many great mentors; Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Ahmet’s brother Nesuhi, Paul Ackerman and Tom Noonan at Billboard,George Goldner at Red Bird and others.

That said,Syd Nathan was most important mentor in my career.That is why book is dedicated to him

Just arrived in Mumbai, India, last night to attend two Music conferences.

I like Porter Wagoner, but if you want to hear best version of “A Satisfied Mind,” you should listen to the version by Jean Shepherd.With the exception of Kitty Wells, Jean was the best female country singer in the early 1950’s.

Jean also is great on “A Dear John Letter,” a duet with Ferlin Husky.

Kitty was amazing and her best recordings were answer songs, most famously “It Wasn’t G-d Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in answer to Hank Thompson’s “Wild Side of Life” and also “Paying for That Back Street Affair,” in answer to “Back Street Affair” by Webb Pierce.Check them out.

Loving your Connecticut journals.Your mother sounds fabulous. You’re so lucky to have each other.

All the best,

Seymour

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With music it’s never the same, even if some of the new music bears more than slight resemblance to what might have preceded it, if not immediately, sometimes further back.

Yes, the Beatles helped bring rock into the LP business. Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and others sold millions of albums before the Beatles.Johnny Mathis’ Greatest Hits stayed on charts for almost 20 years or more.

There were a lot of Broadway musicals like “My Fair Lady” and numeroussoundtracks that sold millions as well.

Most best selling rock albums, pre Beatles were singles compilations.The Beatles created Rock albums from scratch.There’s a difference.

Music in many ways mirrors the times in which we live.Sometimes history repeats itself.

One day we should have dinner and discuss this all.Might have some time next week in between book signings and getting my Grammy.

Let’s talk about the podcast.Would enjoy that.

All the best,

Seymour

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“Prior to the Beatles, the music business was a backwater.”I beg to differ.Music was Never a backwater.

You refer to record companies, but there was a music business in the United States, before there were gramophones and records.

It all started with Tin Pan Alley in New Yorkand the emergence of great American songwriters.Almost every middle class family had a piano in their parlor and songs like “After the Ball” sold as many as five million copies or more back in the 1890’s when the population of USA was 63;000,000.

Music was greatly enhanced by the introduction and popularity of the phonograph, but suffered setbacks duringtheGreat Depression,temporarily with the advent of radio, which eventually turned out to be a great benefactor.

Talking pictures, both helped and somewhat hampered.The first talkie was a musical, “The Jazz Singer,” starring Al Jolson.Many of the most successful early talkies were musicals.Most earlyposters from that era have three bands on the bottom that proclaim in both size and order “All singing,” “All dancing” “AllTalking”.

You make think that info from almost 100 years ago is irrelevant, but I would like to think that the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Tommy Dorsey and others, perhaps even some on Sire like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Madonna, Pretenders, Depeche Mode, Replacements, Smith’s, Cure, Cult, k.d.lang, And artists I picked up late in the game like Lou Reed, Cyndi Lauper and Brian Wilson,will still be remembered and cherished.

The music business goes back hundreds of years and superstars like Beethoven,Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and many others.Their fans were royalty and the elite, a relatively small market and yet their music survives.

I’m a huge fan of the Beatles, but without the music they heard from the United States, and their initial A&R man, German composer, producer, Bert Kaempfert, who produced their earliest recordings during their days in Hamburg.

Kaempfert had his own #1 in us with “Wonderland By Night” and also wrote “Strangers in the Night,” for Sinatra,“Spanish Eyes,” “Wooden Heart,” “Danke Schoen” and others.

Please don’t get me wrong.I love, love, lovethe Beatles. Knew and met them all. John Lennon and his then, girlfriend, May Pang, visited my apartment, where Elton John was staying with me and my wife Linda on the Thanksgiving Day, just before John and Elton performed “Whatever Gets You Through the Night.” I’ve also taught at RADA, Paul McCartney’s University in Liverpool. Was just in Liverpool last month,which remains one of the greatest music cities in the world.

I researched and see you were born in 1953, probably nine or ten when you first heard the Beatles,a time when lasting memories begin and are held forever.

When I was a lad, I heard Hank Williams, Fats Domino,doo-wop like “Gee” by the Crows, “Sh-Boom” by the Chords and “Hearts of Stone” by Otis Williams and the Charms and early Elvis on Sun. Years later, I was fortunate enough to work with some of the men behind those records, like Syd Nathan at King Records, Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic and George Goldner, then at Red Bird; all later became mentors of mine. The music and memories stick with me to this day.

The years in which we were born, to a large extent,shape our taste in music and will continue to do so in future.

Much of what you say is correct,Most of all, “The music will change, that we know for sure, it always does”.

Please let me have your thoughts when you can.Really value your input.

Hope you are feeling and doing well.

All the best,

Seymour

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Barry McGuire??? You’ve got to be kidding. “Eve of Destruction” was an incredible song, but give credit where is credit is due; to the writers, P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri, and Lou Adler.

 

The real pioneering artists of that period were, of course, The Weavers, and in particular, Pete Seeger, but also Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman; and of course Joan Baez, an early supporter and believer in Bob Dylan, who helped nurture his career early on.

 

Tim Hardin was another great writer; “Reason To Believe,” “The Lady Came from Baltimore,” “If I Were A Carpenter,” “Misty Roses,” and others. One can only imagine how many more important songs he would’ve penned had he not died so young.

 

All the best,

 

Seymour Stein

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As far as I recall, the term reggae was not used until around 1968.

“The Tide is High” is more Rocksteady and a hit first for it’s writer, John Holt and his band, the Paragons in 1966

They are notto be confused with 1950’sdoo-wop group, The Paragons, from Brooklyn, who had great success with “Florence” and “Let’s Start Over Again” on the Winley label;also home to the Jesters.

No need to print this,

Best,

Seymour

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You’re right about Bill Haley, one listen to original “Shake, Rattle & Roll” by Joe Turner says it all.Bill Haley & the Comets owe their limited success to “Blackboard Jungle” using “Rock Around the Clock” the film and to one of the greatest, A&R men and producers, Milt Gabler at Decca.

Chuck Berry was great, perhaps the greatest.He wrote great POP songs in the early days of Rock & Roll.His only rival in that respect was Otis Blackwell, ” Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up,” “Return to Sender,” for Elvis;”Fever” for Little Willie John,”Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless”, for Jerry Lee Lewis, “Handy Man for Jimmy James,”Hey Little Girl” for Dee Clark and more.

As a performer few could come close to Chuck.But,Little Richard was incredible liveand for all his 250 pounds, Fats Domino could move and pump that piano across stage with amazing grace.Jerry Lee Lewis; also amazing.They’re about all of the great ones from those early days, still alive and hopefully kicking.

Sam Cooke, James Brown, Clyde McPhatter, Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Hank Ballard, Tony Williams of the Platters and one, not yet inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Ivory Joe Hunter, who I regard as the missing link between Country and R&B with songs he wrote and recorded like, “I Almost Lost My Mind” and “Since I Met You Baby”.

Also, lest not forget Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who together wrote and often produced some of the greatest early Rock & Roll records ever.

“Hail, Hail, Rock & Roll

Deliver me from the days of old

Long live Rock & Roll

The best of the drum is loud and bold” b

Seymour Stein

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Believe Sly also produced “C’mon and Swim” by Bobby Freeman on Autumn. Sly was an amazing talent.

Donahue had a partner in Autumn, Bob Mitchell, also a disk-jockey.

The Fleetwoods were an amazing group, from Washington state, who like the Beau Brummels were two-hit wonders,but what hits, “Come Softly to Me” and even better in my opinion, “Mr. Blue” only difference is that both were number 1’s.They also scored with a revival of Thomas Wayne’s, “Tragedy,” and then faded away.

All the best,

Seymour

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Roger Miller was most of all a great songwriter. One of his earliest and I believe his first hit was “When Two Worlds Collide” on RCA Victor.

Two of his great early compositions were “Invitation to the Blues,” a major hit for Ray Price  on Columbia and “Billy Bayou,” an early hit for Jim Reeves on RCA Victor.

Roger had been around for several years.It was Mercury/Smash A&R man Shelby Singleton’s belief in Miller that really helped his career take off.Singleton sadly is not given all the credit he deserves and was an incredible Music Man and even more incredible character.

It was Shelby who introduced me to Roger Miller, who I met just once in NY, when we all had dinner at Trader Vic’s, around the corner from the old Mercury offices on 5th Avenue.

Thanks for bringing back those memories.Try to listen to those Roger Miller songs.”When Two Worlds Collide” and “Invitation to the Blues” both show a more serious side to his writing

talents.

All the best,

Seymour.

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Wow! Two Sire acts mentioned and both favorably.Thanks for that!After three days and nights at Great Escape in Brighton, I’m on my way to Music Matters in Singapore. Really looking forward to it. Missed it last year and really regretted it. Madonna and Talking Heads were so great. Ramones, Pretenders, and so many others.Thanks for reminding me how lucky I’ve been.

Yes, BOOK OF MORMON is wonderful.But, the real ground breaking Rock musical was HAIR.The powers that be at the time, the Shubert’s and others wouldn’t even let in on Broadway. I’m told that when Joe Papp put in on at his Theatre, they pressured him to close it. Don’t know how accurate that is.

I got an invite to uptown opening of HAIR, when I was working for George Goldner, the legendary Rock indie.They couldn’t get it into a theatre, so it played at discotheque across from the Brill Building, The Cheetah. Went there with Ellie Greenwich, Shadow Morton and legendary groupie, my dear friend Roberta Goldstein. We all loved it. It had five hit singles come out of it. That hadn’t happened since the Gershwin’s, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Rodger,s and Hart (and Hammerstein) were there back in the 30’s through early 50’s.

Those Brill Building days, working at Red Bird Records, just before starting Sire with Richard Gottehrer were among the happiest of my life.

If you’re still in London check out new Helen Mirren play,it’s Brilliant.If by chance, you’re back at MusicMatters again this year, look forward to seeing you.

All the best,

Seymour

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Try to make it out to MOSCA’S, in Avondale, just over the Mississippi Bridge.

Best food in the area.Legend has it that when Al Capone was arrested back in the ’40’s, his chef, MOSCA was kidnapped for his own protection and brought down to New Orleans.The local Mafia had him cook for them.

When Capone died about three years later, they helped the chef open his own place.The food is a combination, New Orleans/Sicilian.Oysters Mosca and Shrimps Mosca the best, also the spaghetti.All guaranteed to please.Today, the restaurant is run by his son and daughter, who closely guard the old recipes.

Other favorites Clancy’s, Commander’s Palace and for quick lunch in quarter, Le Bon Ton Cafe.

If you have extra time, check out the music and food up in Lafayette, Zydeco  capital of the world and restaurants, Prejean’s and also Don’s, both Cajun style. Musically, there’s usually something always going on, on the weekend.

We all owe New Orleans a great debt for it’s contribution to Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll and of course Jazz.Back in the early 50’s and earlier all the r & b indies, Atlantic, Specialty, King, Imperial, Chess, Aladdin, Modern had scouts in  New Orleans mining the area for talent.

I’m in Liverpool at the moment, at Liverpool Sound City.

All the best

Seymour

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Just read yesterday’s blog.Bought back a distant memory from the past.

Jack Pearl was one of those 1950/1960’s era music lawyers who
represented my great mentor Syd Nathan of King Record’s, but also
represented James Brown, Kings biggest artist and Ben Bart, James
Brown’s manager.In addition, Jack was married to Ben Bart’s sister.
He was very smart but quite nasty and mean.When anyone spoke about
being poor, he would say, “being poor is nothing to be ashamed of, but that doesn’t mean you should go around bragging about it”.

By the way, really enjoyed your blog about old, top 40 hit singles.I
really like “Down in the boondocks” by Billy Joe Royal, quite a good
singer.The real star there was Joe South who wrote the song and lots
of the other great ones like “You’re the reason”, “Games People Play”
and “I never promised you a rose garden”.

Both Billy Joe Royal and Joe South were mentored by Bill Lowrey of
Lowrey Music publishing; the company that first put Atlanta on the map
musically back in the late 50’s and early 1960’s.

Good seeing you in Toronto

All the Best

Seymour

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Back in (58 or 59) when I was still in my teens, a group The Fleetwoods
who I believe came out of Seattle, at least that’s where their label
Dolton was headquartered they had only two real hits “Come Softly To Me” and “Mr. Blue” both # 1’s.They also had a top ten “Tragedy” a
re-record of Thomas Wayne’s original a few years before.

Many years later, an A&R man at Warner Bros. played me “I Melt With You” by Modern English on 4AD. I said, “If it’s available grab it and put it
out. “He replied, “Why don’t you pick it up, that was the only thing I
heard that was any good of theirs.”

I did exactly that, licensing it from Martin Mills and like the French
auctioneer says before he slams the hammer down Pas de regret.My
answer an emphatic, NO!” I Melt With You” was the band’s only hit, but
it’s a classic!

“He who hesitates is lost.”

All the best,
Seymour

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Discovering that Candi Staton’s “He Called Me Baby” is a song rooted in country should not come as a surprise.Country and Western and Rhythm and Blues are much closer than people realize.When you consider the roots both lie in the South, it’s really no surprise.King Records where I got my education was in Cincinnati, on the Kentucky border and very much influenced by both genres.Syd Nathan would often take songs recorded by his country acts and record them by R&B acts.Two that come to mind are “Blood Shot Eyes” by Hank Penny also massively successful in R&B by Wynonie Harris and”Signed, Sealed and Delivered” a number one
country smash for Cowboy Copas, was later done successfully by James
Brown.

Paul Ackerman, the legendary music editor of Billboard and Rock & Roll
Hall Of Fame inductee gave Jerry Wexler the country song “Just Out Of
Reach”which was Solomon Burke’s debut after he left Apollo Records to
join Atlantic.The original country and western version was on the Four
Star label.I forget the group.

Perhaps, the greatest of all examples was Ray Charles classic album
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and brought the artist to the mainstream.The hit single, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” was written by
Don Gibson for Kitty Wells and was a hit in both fields.Other songs of
note on the album were “Born To Lose” and two Floyd Tillman tunes “It
Makes No Difference Now” and “I Love You So Much It Hurts” as well as
three Hank William’s classics “Hey Goodlookin'””You Win Again,” and
“Half As Much.”

Pop A&R men like Mitch Miller at Columbia and Hugo Winterhalter were
also quick to spot country classics and record them by pop acts in the
days just before the beginning of Rock & Roll.Miller had great success
with “Cold Cold Heart” by Tony Bennett.”You Belong To Me” by Joe
Stafford.”Half As Much” by Rosemary Clooney and later in the early
days of rock with Guy Mitchell’s “Singin’ The Blues” and “Heartaches By
The Number” originally introduced in country by Marty Robbins and Ray
Price respectively.Winterhalter produced Eddie Fisher with Eddy
Arnold’s massive country hit “Anytime”and also Slim Willet’s “Don’t
Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes” a number one for Perry Como.

Perhaps the best example of pop goes country is Patti Pages’ “Tennessee
Waltz” written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart produced by either her
manager Jack Rael or Mercury exec Art Talmadge, I can’t recall.First a
hit in country in versions by Cowboy Copas and Pee Wee King.Patti
Pages’, one of the first “multi-track” recordings spent over three
months at the top of the pop charts.

Listened to Candi Staton’s”He Called Me Baby” and like it a lot.If
you’re not familiar with Little Esther Phillips version of “Release Me,”
I think you’ll enjoy it.Originally a country hit both for Kitty Wells
and Ray Price.Any of these three versions far superior to Englebert
Humperdinck in 1967.All this just goes to prove is a great song is a
great song; back in the 50’s and 60’s and still true today.

Good to hear you’ll be in Toronto.Look forward to seeing you at
Canadian Music Week.

Best Regards,
Seymour

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Back in the day before Chrysalis Records there was the Ellis-Wright
Organization with a small office, I believe at 123 Regents St. with just
Chris and Terry and their secretary Rose.I knew them through Mike
Vernon, my partner and founder of Blue Horizon Records original home to Peter Greene’s Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack which featured Christine Perfect (later McVie) on Piano.Mike was also a star producer at
British Decca where he produced John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Eric
Clapton, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, and two bands looked
after by Ellis Wright: Ten Years After and also Savoy Brown Blues Band.
Mike also produced David Bowie’s first album for Decca.

Back then, I always had a complex about the fact that I couldn’t play an
instrument.I was in the music business since age 14 working at
Billboard while in school and later for Syd Nathan at King Records and
finally for George Goldner at Redbird Records and his partners Leiber &
Stoller in the Brill Building.I was in the business, but couldn’t
play.It really bothered me.It was in the Brill Building that I met
Richard Gottehrer who was to become my partner and close friend in Sire
Records.Richard’s company FGG Productions was on the 10th Floor and
Redbird was on the 9th Floor of this fabled building.Richard was a
great and gifted musician (as well as songwriter/producer/artist) When
we started Sire my complex about not being a musician grew even greater.

One day in London I went with Mike Vernon and his then engineer Gus
Dudgeon, (later Elton John’s producer) to the Windsor Pop and Jazz
Festival where some of our Blue Horizon artists were playing.There was
this one new band managed by Chris and Terry.They took the stage and
stole the show.I couldn’t believe how great they were. The minute
their set was over I turned to Mike and said, “We ought to sign this
band to Blue Horizon, you know they are looked after by Chris and
Terry.”Mike turned to me and said, “Seymour, I don’t want to work with
a band fronted by a flautist.”My heart sank!

I turned to Gus Dudgeon and said “Gus, please help me. Tell Mike we
should try to sign this band.”Gus turned to me and said, “Seymour,
obviously you don’t play a musical instrument.If you did you would
have heard all the bad notes the band hit.”I couldn’t believe what I
was hearing.The band was of course Jethro Tull.Jethro Tull launched
the Chrysalis label which along with Island and Virgin were the three
great English Indie labels that emerged in the early 1970’s.

I am happy that Warner Music Group played a major role in the launch of
these labels in the United States.I am also happy that about two years
later when I found and signed the Dutch band Focus featuring Thijs van
Leer on flute and Jan Akkermann on guitar. I took the demos to Mike
Vernon and said, “I don’t care if you like flautists or not you’re
producing this record.”That album “Moving Ways” was Sire’s first
platinum record and helped keep our doors open ’til I discovered CBGB’s
and along with it The Ramones and Talking Heads.By that time Richard
Gottehrer had left Sire, but found and produced Blondie so we were both
well on our way.

Perhaps most important of all, after that incident at the Windsor Pop &
Jazz Festival, I was never again bothered that I couldn’t play an
instrument.Finding and signing the artists, hearing hit songs are more
than enough for me and have served me well over the years.Had I
followed Gus Dudgeon’s rules I would have never signed The Ramones, the
band that opened up all the doors and along with Talking Heads landed
Sire the deal with Mo and Lenny at Warner’s.

Thank you Chris, thank you Terry.

-Seymour Stein

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Last night, 13th January, I journeyed up to United House of Prayer in Harlem to attend the funeral and pay tribute to a true industry giant, record producer Bobby Robinson. His hit R&B productions included “Kansas City” by Wilbert Harrison, “Every Beat Of My Heart” the record that launched the career of Gladys Knight and the Pips.The amazing New Orleans smash “Ya Ya” by Lee Dorsey.“Soul Twist”by King Curtis and the iconic “Fannie May” by Buster Brown – that song surely must have inspired Brian Wilson when composing “Help Me Rhonda” for the Beach Boys.Robinson also produced some of Elmore James’ best recordings including “The Sun Is Crying” and some of the greatest ever doo-wop like “I’m So Happy” and  “Honey Honey” by Lewis Lyman and the Teenchords (Frankie’s brother).“Oh Gee, Oh Gosh” by the Kodoks and numerous hits by The Velvets, The Channels, and The Scarlets.

 

A pioneer in hip-hop, later on in his career Bobby produced early recordings by Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.The Funky Four Plus One More, Kool Moe Dee to name a few.

 

Bobby’s career in music began in 1946 when he opened Bobby’s Record Shop, the first black owned business on West 125th St., a favorite hang out for r&b stars appearing down the street at the Apollo.Back during my days at King Records in the early 1960’s I went up to Bobby’s with Hank Ballard and James Brown.My boss Syd Nathan thought Bobby was the best r&b producer at that time.Bobby had a great audio system blasting the music out on to the street attracting huge crowds.He called it his radio station, W-BOBBY.

 

Bobby’s various labels over 60 years in the business included Fire, Fury, Everlast, Enjoy, Whirlin’ Disc.He was 93 and still active.Sadly turnout from the music community was minimal, Tom Silverman of Tommy Boy, writer Andy Schwartz and a few others.Paul Winley of Winley Records home to 1950’s doo-woppers The Paragons and the Jesters made a touching tribute, Congressman Charlie Rangel made the opening remarks.

 

Bobby Robinson, a true legend and hopefully a future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer.

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I could not agree more that Linda Ronstadt belongs in the Rock and Roll of Fame.I do believe her admission is inevitable, too bad it’s so long
overdue.

Feel the same about the Moody Blues, Chuck Willis, Joe Tex, The
Searchers, Carly Simon, Chicago and many others.

Thanks for your mention of “Tainted Love”.So proud to have had Soft
Cell on Sire.Thought it was a natural, took so long to work its way up
the chart and it spent a total of 43 weeks on the hot 100 as it broke
from city to city.”Tainted Love” was written by Ed Cobb, leader of the
1950’s group, the Four Preps; most famous for hits “Twenty Six Miles”
and “Big Man”.I loved their spoof on groups “More Money for You and
Me”, not quite as big a hit but memorable.

In your discussion of songwriters who are also artists.Please remember
that Bobby Darin wrote “Early in the Morning”, recorded under the name
the Rinkidinks on ATCO which was also a hit for Buddy Holly.

Hall of Famer, Gene Pitney actually started as a songwriter, writing
hits like “Hello Mary Lou” for Ricky Nelson, “Rubber Ball” for Bobby Vee
and “He’s a Rebel” for the Crystals.All this came before his first
solo hit, “The Man who Shot Liberty Valance”.Gene is best remembered
for “Only Love can Breaka Heart” and “It Hurts to be in Love”.

Country great Don Gibson wrote “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and stuck it on
the b side of his country/pop smash “Oh Lonesome Me”.He actually wrote
it for Kitty Wells, “Queen of country music” who took it to number three
on the country charts in 1958.Other versions in country included Faron
Young in 1956, Patsy Cline in 1963 and Emmy Lou Harris in 1976.

“Oh Lonesome Me” was recorded by Neil Young on “After the Goldrush” LP.

“I Can’t Stop Loving You” changed the life and career of Ray Charles as
it was the prime track on his “Modern Sounds” in Country and Western
music.The single was Ray Charles biggest ever, same with the album.

Joe South, country singer songwriter most famous for “Games People Play”
back in 1969 is also the writer of “Down in the Boondocks” by Billie Joe
Royal.”Hush” by Deep Purple and Billie Joe Royal, “I never Promised
You a Rose Garden” by Lynn Anderson and “Birds of a feather” by Paul
Revere and the Raiders.

The great Ivory Joe Hunter who surely belongs in the Rock and Roll hall
of Fame is perhaps best known for “Since I Met You Baby” which he wrote
and recorded for Atlantic back in 1956. The song became a number one
country hit years later by Sonny James.Hunter also wrote, “Out of
Sight, Out of Mind” for doo wop group, the 5 Keys and three Elvis
Presley songs “Ain’t that loving you Baby”, “My Wish Came True” and “I
Need You So”.

When I first heard Tim Hardin, I thought he would have an incredible
career as singer songwriter.Tragically, his life was cut short but not
before writing some of the great songs of the 1960’s and 70’s including,
“Reasons to Believe”, “If I Were a Carpenter”, “The Lady Came from
Baltimore”, “Misty Roses”, “Don’t Make Promises” and also “How Nice we
Hang on to a Dream”, recorded by Echo and the Bunnymen on Sire.

The songwriter is the key to everything.So great you spent so much
time outlining this in your recent blog post.

Glad you made mention of Hank Williams, my all-time favorite.I’m sure
you’re familiar with songs he wrote and recorded under the name Luke the
Drifter like “Pictures from Life’s other Side” and “Be Careful of the
Stones That you Throw”, a hit years later for Dion (DiMucci)

Pat Boone who I feel is somewhat underrated because of his pop cover
versions of songs by Fats Domino, Little Richard and others recorded “I
Almost Lost My Mind”, in my opinion Hunter’s best ever song and Boones
best ever recording.Was not technically a cover because Hunter’s
recording was from 1950, Boones from 1956 when it spent four weeks at
number one. . . . . . same year Elvis was at number 1 with “Heartbreak
Hotel”, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You”, “Don’t be Cruel”/”Hound
Dog” and “Love Me Tender”.

Dion, who gave up his seat to Buddy Holly on that an ill-fated plane.
Buddy was anxious to get back to his bride, Maria Elena.

Finally, can’t leave out of the list J.D Souther, whose songs like “New
Kid in Town” and “Best of my Love” are classics, but was a damn good
artist as well.

All the best,

Seymour

P.S Hardly ever write responses although I am an avid reader.Feeling
quite sentimental this past week.The passing of several friends, some
unexpected like Pete Bennett and Mickey ‘Guitar’ Baker.Others who have
been sick for a very long time like legendary live agent Frank Barsalona
and Broadway producer, Marty Richards.

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“Keith and I trolled the Brill Building for songs in the summer of ‘ 64. Nobody would see us except Seymour. He was at Red Bird Records doing promo for Lieber & Stoller. He gave us ‘Down Home Girl’ by Alvin Robinson. We cut it with the Stones. Seymour had the ears of an angel and vinyl blood.”

Andrew Loog Oldham

We were the generation that thought we were going to live forever.

Everything they say is true, it goes by in the blink of an eye. However I can’t say that either my high school or college days were the best of my life. I never want to go back to school. I like not being anxious on Sunday nights. I like not worrying about grades. And I especially like the lack of competition over meaningless data. Like grade-grubbing in college. I mean what difference does it make? Oh, high grades might get you into a better graduate school. Meanwhile, everybody who seems to change the world dropped out of college. Or certainly didn’t go to graduate school. Of course there are exceptions, but being good at school is like being a professional athlete. Your career is time-stamped, and when it’s over, you’ve still got a lot of living to do.

Forever if you’re a baby boomer, like I said above.

Come on, we all know we’re going to die, but we don’t feel it. It’s something abstract, off in the future. While we’re growing up someone we know falls through the ice, or dies in a car crash, but we see those as anomalies. And maybe someone else dies of cancer, maybe even in their twenties. But not us, we’re bulletproof, we’re made to last.

Only we’re not.

We are the generation that refused to get old. Wearing our kids’ jeans as well as getting plastic surgery. Because image is everything. If you look young, you are. Fifty is the new forty. What a bunch of hogwash that is. You may feel young, but tell that to your body, it knows no different, fifty is really fifty. Never mind that we were brought up on a diet of fast food and most of us don’t exercise.

I didn’t think I was going to die until I got cancer, back in 2009. I was the first in my group to get it, woe is me. But since then…I know many more people who’ve gotten it much worse. Some have passed. Others survive, but they’re members of the club too, the ones who’ve been hipped to the fact that we’re all gonna pass.

But hopefully later rather than sooner.

We keep hearing about our progeny, the Millennials. How they’re not going to do as well financially as we did. Sorry, but most of us didn’t do so well. There used to be a middle class. Now that’s gone. Either you’re upper middle class or richer, or you struggle. Or will when your money runs out in old age. Everybody expects to live to a hundred, but it never occurred to them how to pay for it. Just like with politics, writers are out of touch. They think since they’re doing well financially, the rest of their generation is, just like they  missed the Trump voter, primarily working class, abandoned by the Democrats.

That’s another change from our parents’ generation. Today it’s everybody for themselves. The richer you are, the less you give to charity, it’s the poor who are laying down their dough. Of course I’m speaking percentage-wise, but so many who made it did so based on ripping off the public, overcharging people, using sleight-of-hand, they’re not about to change now. Money is status.

But as you get older you realize this is untrue. We revert to our high school identities. We’re all retired, we’re all in it together. We focus on gossip, the petty. Of course there are those who continue to work. But most interestingly, the financially-challenged don’t realize that it’s nearly impossible to get a job as you get older. No one is hiring ninety-year-olds. So when you run out of money…

That’s gonna happen a lot with boomers.

Who complain about physical ailments, but somehow their hearts and arteries are immune. They’re good, they’re standing here, aren’t they?

Especially men, going to doctors is anathema. If you don’t think about it, don’t acknowledge it, it doesn’t exist. But rust never sleeps, neither does the attrition of old age. Go for a full battery of tests, you’d be surprised how you’re compromised. As for that belief that you should take no drugs… Take them, as many as the doctor prescribes. I know a fiftysomething who was externally fit who was told she had high blood pressure and should take medication, she refused, chose the homeopathic path and had a stroke. Yup, ignore the doctor’s advice at your peril.

Now I’m detecting a bit of anger in this screed. I guess because I’m doing everything right and it may not even matter. So much is DNA. My father went to the doctor, took the advice, got multiple myeloma and died at 70. Meanwhile, our close family friend went to the doctor sporadically, delayed surgery, and lived to 92. Just like you hear about people who smoked like a chimney and lived to be a hundred. But they’re the exception. And I look around and see all the people who are cavalier regarding their health. I want to wake them, shake them, before it’s over. But the joke could be on me. I could drop dead tomorrow. It happens.

I met Michael Leon in 1990. He invited me to a show at the A&M soundstage. Which is not A&M anymore. That company was gobbled up by a conglomerate, who’s heard of Alain Levy recently? Even Edgar Bronfman, Jr. is lost to the sands of music business history. As for Edgar…bad financial choices. But somehow, my generation believes its money is forever, that someone else loses out, that everybody wins, kind of Lake Wobegon, where every student is above-average.

And Michael was warm and intelligent. Which not everybody in the music business is. There are a lot of uneducated hustlers, who can sell, but can’t have a deep conversation about anything other than music.

This was not Michael.

Who sent me some money when I needed it, out of his payout from the sale of A&M. By today’s standards it wouldn’t even buy a business lunch, but it meant everything to me back then.

And we went skiing together in the year 2000. He invited me to sleep in his giant room at the Goldener Hirsch in Deer Valley.

He worked for SBK. He worked for Hybrid. He worked with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I remember him telling me after he fell off the board that he never cared if he flew on a private jet again. Which is the goal of the hoi polloi. Forget the rich who fly private on a regular basis, might even have their own plane, there are those a level below who get to fly on the small planes where you never have to wait and get hooked by the convenience. But Michael realized it was ultimately all b.s. He knew.

I’m learning.

And then he started to winter in Palm Springs. Michael is a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker. At least he was, I’m still speaking in the present tense. And he spoke about getting together. But it was Covid and the vaccine didn’t work for me…

Which no one could understand. Of course it worked for them. But I was taking a medication for my pemphigus that wiped out all my B cells.

That’s another thing, boomers don’t want to hear about your problems, they just want to soldier on, until it happens to them.

And I’ve been wondering recently why Michael hasn’t contacted me. Now I’m vaccinated, now I’m going out.

And then today I read he died, at 76.

At least Seymour Stein made it to 80.

76. Tell a baby boomer they only have a few years left. They’re never going to believe it, not them. Even though they took Social Security early because they believed it was their money, and they were worried about the program crapping out. What are you going to do when you’re old? The government is not going to take pity on you, it’s not going to give you any more. Maybe you can stay with your kids. Assuming you’ve got kids.

Or you can commit suicide, a death of despair. Honestly, I’ve contemplated that. If I run out of money. I’ve got no children. What else am I going to do?

And we keep putting things off, trips, seeing old friends.

And then we’re infirm and can’t travel, and our old friends die.

I’m not going to tell you how to live your life, what to do, other than to go to the doctor and listen to what they have to say. And while I’m at it, get a supplemental Medicare policy and be sure to sign up for a drug plan, if you don’t, you’re going to pay a penalty. Because if you can find an old person who doesn’t take medication…I can’t.

That’s something you learn as you get older. You’re in charge, you make the choices. And you bear the consequences. And there are no do-overs. Employ all the excuses you want. But at some point you have to stop blaming your parents, your upbringing, and bear the burden yourself.

But responsibility did not fit in with the hippie ethos. Which transformed into the ethos of greed, once it was legitimized by Reagan. Mine for me, that’s what it’s all about. So why should you expect others to take care of you when you need it?

I guess I’m pissed. That I won’t see Michael Leon again. That so many in my generation are unprepared for what’s coming down. And the fact that I’m going to die.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Assuming you’re sick, you ultimately make peace with the fact you’re going to pass. Like all this b.s. about fighting cancer mentally, that’s just what it is, b.s. My cancer lowered my hemoglobin to the point where climbing a flight of stairs was challenging, not only physically, but mentally. Walking cross town in NYC the roads have a hump in the middle, that strained me. Ultimately I found tolerable iron pills which alleviated the problem to a great degree, but it’s still there, just less, my hemoglobin never returned to normal.

All this is to say your friend with terminal cancer usually accepts their death when it comes near. It’s those that are left who can’t accept it.

I’m having a hard time accepting all the people who are passing. The rock stars. Classic rock records may still be around, but the people who made the music…

And the people I know. Or knew.

No one here gets out alive. Remember that.