Record producers in the Fifties and Sixties had a nasty practice: they'd con (mostly black) young singing groups into signing recording "contracts" that had them turn over the song rights to the producers. The producers then would then make the song available to (mostly white) singers and groups, and make royalties from both versions.
I'm sure you remember this, TB, but "The Sopranos" tapped that storyline during the first season. I've read that the character of "Hesh" was loosely based on Herman Lubinsky, who founded Savoy Records. Lubinsky was a Newark area record producer who was almost universally hated by the African American music community.
Ironically, Herman Lubinsky was the grandfather of TJ Lubinsky, the young man who produces many of the PBS Doo Wop revival shows that we all love so much. TJ is a very young guy. Younger than 40, I think. But great music transcends age and time.
This is from www.bsnpubs.com:
Morris Levy ran the Roulette label from it's inception. He was born poor in the East Bronx, New York. He went into the nightclub business and eventually owned several big nightclubs in mid-town Manhattan. Levy was in business with disc jockey Alan Freed, and with Freed promoted the hugely successful Rock and Roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. Levy's real money came from publishing copyrights that accumulated into a vast fortune over the years. It was hardly a secret that Levy had many "silent partners" in the Mafia underworld. Levy claimed he was being harassed by the government and had numerous run-ins with the law because of his association with the Genovese family, but he avoided serious prosecution for many years. Levy's luck ran out in May 1988 when he was convicted on extortion charges and drew a ten-year sentence, but he remained free on bail after an appeal, and died of cancer in 1990. The story of Morris Levy and Roulette Records is chronicled in the book Hit Men by Fredric Danner in the chapter titled "Lullaby of Gangland."
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
