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Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Composers & musicians
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Godfather of the Music Business - Morris Levy (Paperback)
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Godfather of the Music Business - Morris Levy (Paperback)
Series: American Made Music Series
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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This biography tells the story of one of the most notorious figures
in the history of popular music, Morris Levy (1927-1990). At age
nineteen, he cofounded the nightclub Birdland in Hell's Kitchen,
which became the home for a new musical style, bebop. Levy operated
one of the first integrated clubs on Broadway and helped build the
careers of Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell and most notably aided
the reemergence of Count Basie. In 1957, he founded a record label,
Roulette Records. Roulette featured many of the significant jazz
artists who played Birdland but also scored top pop hits with acts
like Buddy Knox, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Joey Dee and the
Starliters, and, in the mid-1960s, Tommy James. Stories abound of
Levy threatening artists, songwriters, and producers, sometimes
just for the sport, other times so he could continue to build his
empire. Along the way, Levy attracted "investors" with ties to the
Mafia, including Dominic Ciaffone (a.k.a. "Swats" Mulligan), Tommy
Eboli, and the most notorious of them all, Vincent Gigante. Gigante
allegedly owned large pieces of Levy's recording and retail
businesses. Starting in the late 1950s, the FBI and IRS
investigated Levy but could not make anything stick until the early
1980s, when Levy foolishly got involved in a deal to sell
remaindered records to a small-time reseller, John LaMonte. With
partners in the mob, Levy tried to force LaMonte to pay for four
million remaindered records. When the FBI secretly wiretapped
LaMonte in an unrelated investigation and agents learned about the
deal, investigators successfully prosecuted Levy in the extortion
scheme. Convicted in 1988, Levy did not live to serve prison time.
Stricken with cancer, he died just as his last appeals were
exhausted. However, even if he had lived, Levy's brand of storied
high life was effectively bust. Corporate ownership of record
labels doomed most independents in the business, ending the days
when a savvy if ruthless hustler could blaze a path to the top.
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