Herb Cohen
Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, George Duke, the Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, and many other Los Angeles-based musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.
Life and career
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Cohen was born in New York. After a period in the army in 1952, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s, and started to put on concerts with folk singers such as Pete Seeger and Odetta.[1] He began running coffee bars and folk clubs, such as the Unicorn and Cosmo Alley, during the late 1950s and early 1960s.[2]
He began acting as manager for many artists, with his eventual roster including
He was best known as the manager of
He also handled Montreux Jazz Festival tours of Japan and the US, and produced the US portion of the Nelson Mandela concert in Wembley Stadium upon Mandela's release.[1] Cohen managed Tom Waits until 1982, and, after that time, his main management client was jazz musician George Duke. Cohen reactivated the Bizarre and Straight labels in 1988, calling it "Bizarre/Straight Records," which was distributed by Enigma Records, and, later, Rhino Records. Bizarre/Straight released early recordings of both Waits and Tim Buckley.[2] Some of the Bizarre/Straight releases were later released by Manifesto Records, a label formed in 1995 and run by his nephew, Evan Cohen, who is also a music industry lawyer.
In 1989–91, Cohen managed the Russian rock group
In 2009, Cohen filed suit for
Death
Cohen died in 2010, in Napa, California, of complications from cancer. He was 77 years old.[2][4]
References
- ^ a b c Waits Biographer Sued By Waits ExManager Archived 2010-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d Obituary, London Guardian, April 2, 2010.
- ^ "Bad Taste Is Timeless: Cruising Down Memory Lane With Frank Zappa", by David Fricke, Trouser Press, April 1979
- ^ "Herb Cohen dies at 77 - Entertainment News, Obituary, Media - Variety". Archived from the original on 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2020-04-20.