Morris Levy
Morris Levy, born Moishe Levy on August 27, 1927, in Harlem, New York City, was a prominent American music business executive known for his significant influence in the jazz and independent record industry. Levy's early life was marked by hardship; his father and older brother died of pneumonia when he was just four months old. He left school at 13 and moved to Florida, working as a nightclub photographer before joining the United States Navy.
Levy's career in the music industry began when he managed the Cock Lounge, a nightclub in New York, which led to the establishment of the iconic Birdland jazz club in 1949. Birdland attracted legendary musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon. Recognizing the potential profits in music publishing, Levy formed Patricia Music and later co-founded Roulette Records in 1956 with George Goldner, diversifying into rock and roll and jazz.
Levy was a controversial figure, described by Billboard as one of the industry's most flamboyant players and by Variety as "The Octopus" for his extensive control over the music business. He was notorious for taking false writing credits to collect royalties, often at the expense of black R&B artists. His business empire included over 90 companies, employing 900 people, and spanned record-pressing plants, a distribution company, and a chain of record stores.
Despite his business acumen, Levy's career was marred by criminal activities. He was a subject of investigations into organized crime's infiltration of the music industry and was convicted of extortion in 1990. Levy died on May 21, 1990, in Ghent, New York, shortly after losing his appeal and before serving his prison sentence. He was married five times and had three children.
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