MUSIC MEMOIR: HOW I CAME TO LOVE ROCK AND ROLL

Up On The Roof: Where The Music Found Me

I started to seriously listen to rock and roll following our family’s move to Glenwood Road in Brooklyn, just down the road from my father’s candy store. I was about 14 and listened every chance I could to WWLR in New York and WNJR in New Jersey, both rhythm and blues stations, with WNJR leaning more toward blues, along with the major New York City stations.

Around that time, I also began purchasing records. My earliest recollections include Fats Domino, Shirley and Lee, The Paragons, The Jesters, and Earl Lewis and the Channels. This music, along with much of the doo-wop era, is still what I listen to today, and it became the foundation of my music memoir.

One of the chapters in my music memoir is titled “Up On The Roof.” On warm days in New York City, I would go up, spread out a blanket on the tarred roof, and listen to the music playing on the radio. By 1957, I began buying rock and roll records as my allowance increased and I could afford seventy-five cents for a 78 or 45 RPM record. Little Richard became another favorite, and I later had the privilege of meeting him on my first agency job at Associated Booking Corporation, where he was a client. I admit I was intimidated—he was an imposing figure in every sense, and that moment stayed with me as part of my music memoir.

Record Shops: Where I Learned To Love Even The Bombs

Once I became a regular record buyer, I started visiting Mel’s Record Rack on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, at the Junction where it crossed Nostrand Avenue. What I loved most about Mel’s was simple: he stocked the latest rock and roll and rhythm and blues records, and he would play his favorites for you. On one occasion, he played what was then a major creative shift in rock and roll music: The Drifters, with Clyde McPhatter singing lead, performing “Up On The Roof.” What stood out was the use of violins—something new at the time and widely copied in the years that followed. That moment stayed with me and became part of my music memoir, one of many details that shaped this music memoir.

Times Square Records: A Turning Point In My Music Memoir

Around 1960, I discovered Times Square Records, located in Times Square, Manhattan, downstairs on the way to the IRT subway station on 42nd Street near Sixth Avenue. It was owned by Irving “Slim” Rose, a Holocaust survivor and hustler by nature, who would buy records—mostly for store credit—and resell them as part of his vast inventory. He also ran his own label, featuring groups with the high tenor, teenage lead voice that was popular at the time, similar to Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and The Students, a sound that defined part of the era covered in my music memoir.

As I later wrote in my music memoir, this period led to my first real entry into the business. While working at the Silver Knight with my college friend Larry Marshak, we discovered a doo-wop group that I renamed The Five Sharks. Slim had long been running a contest to find the rare record “Stormy Weather” by The Five Sharps, and my instinct—even then—was to position our group accordingly.

We recorded “Stormy Weather” and sold the master to Slim for $100 in store credit, which we happily used to expand our record collections, another early step in my music memoir.

That was my first deal—small in dollars, but significant in direction—and one of many moments captured in my music memoir. The Five Sharks went on to record additional material, though the lineup changed over time.

Another early job during college was at Sam Goody in Valley Stream, Long Island, where I managed the 45 RPM section. I enjoyed sharing music with customers, much like Mel had done for me, something that continued throughout my music memoir.

My Music Business Memoir

It all came down to my love of music. That drove me to run shows at the Golden Slipper and the Silver Knight. It led me to manage The Emeralds, which evolved into representing multiple rock and roll bands. It brought me to Associated Booking Corporation, working with Joe Glazier and Sol Saffian, and later to founding my own agency, American Talent International.

From there, everything that followed became part of the story I tell in my music memoir, Once A King, Now A Prince, and the life behind it, completing the journey of this music memoir.

Related Posts: Sex Drugs And Rock And Roll and Best Rock And Roll Memoirs

Candy Store Love, Performed By The Valchords And Part Of My Music Memoir