MORRIS LEVY
Morris Levy (August 27, 1927 – May 21, 1990) was an American music industry executive, widely known as the founder and owner of Roulette Records, owner of the Birdland jazz club and Roulette Room. At the peak of his businesses, Levy owned more than 90 companies employing 900 people, including record pressing plants, tape-duplicating plants, a distribution company, a prominent New England chain of 81 record stores (Strawberries), and numerous record labels. He was convicted in 1990 on extortion charges from an FBI investigation into the alleged infiltration of organized crime into the record business — and died after losing his appeal and two months before he was scheduled to report to prison. (More from Wikipedia)
Anyway, I have since found out that Roulette Records was owned by the notorious music mogul Morris Levy. Some of the information that I have read about him is praiseworthy, but most people think he was basically a gangster. Tommy James and the Shondells was one of Roulette’s big artists; they had a lot of records on the charts – including one of the biggest psychedelic hit songs of the 1960’s, “Crimson and Clover” – and their albums are really good as well. I picked up one not too long ago; at the beginning of the album, there was an older man with a gruff voice who was trying to be hip, saying things like “don’t mind me, you just do your thing”. In another context, I would have just thought that it was corny; with Roulette though . . . I don’t know if that was Levy or not, but it sounded pretty sinister to me.
Levy and Roulette also figure in the story of Milan (also known as the Leather Boy), one of the most mysterious figures in 1960’s garage rock.
(March 2012)
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