Don Kirshner: The late music biz legend’s five greatest pop culture contributions
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesThe history of music over the past half century would have been very different without Don Kirshner, the so-called “Man with the Golden Ear,” who died yesterday from heart failure in Boca Raton, Fla. below, you’ll find the rock impresario’s five greatest contributions to pop culture.
1. Bobby DarinWhile still in his early ’20s, Kirshner started writing songs with, and managing, Darin. the future music biz impresario first met the future singing superstar at a Manhattan candy store. “He was disheveled,” Kirshner would recall to a journalist in 2001. “He was down-and-out, cleaning latrines. and his name was Walden Robert Cassotto. and he eventually became, after I discovered him, Bobby Darin. I couldn’t believe all his talent. I said to him, ‘Let’s team up, and we’ll be the biggest thing in entertainment.’ I couldn’t even get arrested at the time.” By 1959, Darin really was one of the biggest things in entertainment thanks to his hit, “Mack the Knife.”
2. “Will you still Love me Tomorrow”In the ’50s and ’60s, Kirshner represented many of the great Brill Building songwriters through his Aldon Music publishing company. Kirshner’s stable of talent included the young Neil Sedaka, whose tune “Stupid Cupid” became a hit for Connie Francis in 1958 and the team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King who penned the Shirelles‘ smash “Will you Love me Tomorrow.”
3. the MonkeesAs musical supervisor of the Monkees TV show, Kirshner played a crucial role in establishing the success of the “Prefab Four.” the band’s hits included Goffin and King’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday”—which was inspired by a trip the couple took to Kirshner’s house in the suburbs—and “I’m A Believer,” by another Brill Building songsmith, Neil Diamond.
4. the ArchiesIn January 1967, Kirshner met with the Monkees at the Beverly Hill Hotel and suggested they record “Sugar, Sugar.” the band disagreed. “I said, ‘Screw the Monkees, I want a band that won’t talk back,” Kirshner recalled in 2004. the impresario got his wish by creating cartoon pop act the Archies, who scored a number one hit in 1969. the name of the song? “Sugar, Sugar.”
5. Don Kirshner’s Rock ConcertThis Kirshner-fronted TV show debuted in 1973 and ran for almost a decade. Over the years, an incredible lineup of artists performed on Rock Concert, from the Rolling Stones to Black Sabbath to to Joe Walsh (see below) to Blue Oyster Cult, who featured Kirshner on their track, “the Marshall Plan”. Kirshner’s stiff presenting style was lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Paul Shaffer, who had previously acted in the sitcom A Year At the top, which was created by Kirshner and Norman Lear. “the guy on Rock Concert was nothing like the real Don Kirshner,” Shaffer told the Washington Post in 2004. “He’s actually a really funny guy.”
Don Kirshner: The late music biz legend’s five greatest pop culture contributions
Questions again about Steve Jobs’s health
by MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — the issue of the health of Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs has come up again, an issue that investors and its fans don’t want to think about.
this time, Apple /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 340.65, -7.83, -2.25%) gets some kudos for telling investors, employees, customers and everyone else who obsesses over the company, that Jobs is taking another medical leave.
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as Apple CEO Steve Jobs goes on medical leave, COO Tim Cook is set to run day-to-day operations at the company. Journal reporter Nick Wingfield talks to Lauren Goode about Cook’s management style and background.
the sudden news on the Martin Luther King holiday in the U.S., though, was likely shaking up investors who are unable to trade Apple’s stock until Tuesday, which is also the day Apple will report its fiscal first quarter earnings. At least they will have a day to digest it, but the stock will probably take a hit on Tuesday when the market opens again. See Apple stock story here.
the company has a bad record of disclosing information about the health of its legendary leader, who survived pancreatic cancer, but then in 2009, had a liver transplant. In both cases, the company told investors after his surgeries took place. when Jobs took a six-month medical leave in January 2009, after rumors about his wan appearance in 2008, he cited “hormonal imbalance” issues. He ended up having a liver transplant which saved his life.
this time, Apple is getting out in front of the news, more or less. but more questions remain about how serious is Jobs’s condition, if it’s a recurrence of cancer, or something else. the company did not give any timeframe in its statement, or any details about Jobs’s prospects. See text of Jobs’s message to employees.
On the positive side, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook managed the company well during Jobs’s last absence and was again named as managing day-to-day operations. He is clearly the No. 2 executive to Jobs, so at least a succession plan is in place.
but Jobs’s vision is an integral part of the company’s stunning success and its resurgence from its near-death experience in the late 1990s when he returned to its helm. Investors are hoping his leave is only temporary, but those seeking further clarity in Apple’s earnings conference call on Tuesday, where the topic may dominate investors’s questions, may have to wait and see.
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