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'''Nat Shapiro''' (September 27, 1922, [[New York City]] - December 15, 1983, New York City) was an American [[jazz]] writer and [[record producer]]. |
'''Nat Shapiro''' (September 27, 1922, [[New York City]] - December 15, 1983, New York City) was an American [[jazz]] writer and [[record producer]]. |
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| ⚫ | Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for [[Mercury Records]] in 1948-50, served as head of [[public relations]] for [[Broadcast Music Incorporated|BMI]] in 1955-56, and was the [[A&R]] leader for [[Columbia Records]] from 1956–66, during which time he produced dozens of records. His credits as a producer include work with [[Nina Simone]], [[Phil Woods]], and [[Michel Legrand]]. With [[Nat Hentoff]], Shapiro co-edited two books on jazz, ''Hear Me talkin' to Ya'' (1955) and ''The Jazz Makers'' (1957), now recognized as classic historical efforts. He also compiled and edited ''Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music'' for Doubleday in 1978. A collection of cynical quotations, ''Whatever It Is, I'm Against It'' (1984), was published shortly after his death. |
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Nat Shapiro, born in Brooklyn on September 27, 1922, was a writer, record producer, promoter, artist manager and "catalytic agent" (his favorite self-description) who was active in numerous aspects of the commercial music and recording industry, as well as musical theater.<br /> |
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| ⚫ | Shapiro introduced [[Galt MacDermot]] to [[Gerome Ragni]] and [[Jim Rado]], the writers of the musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]'', and MacDermot composed the score.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.galtmacdermot.com/aboutgalt.htm |title=Biography of MacDermot |access-date=2008-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224125809/http://www.galtmacdermot.com/aboutgalt.htm |archive-date=2016-02-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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Throughout this varied career that spanned over 30 years (he died at the age of 61, on December 15, 1983), he produced more than 100 record albums, including albums by Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Marlene Dietrich, Lotte Lenya, Mahalia Jackson and Michel Legrand. He also worked in artist promotion for personalities such as Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Billy Eckstine, Mitch Miller, Mary Martin, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante, Peter Lind Hayes, June Valli and a number of others. In addition, he was a manager of Michel Legrand, as well as of Nina Simone, and was a creative adviser to Judy Collins; he fulfilled one or another of these roles with a number of other women singers and singer-songwriters in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.<br /> |
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He was intimately linked with the creation of the 1960s musical ''Hair'' and was responsible for introducing composer Galt MacDermot to James Rado and Gerome Ragni, the creators of that landmark musical, as well as being their creative and business managers, overseeing the progress of the play through numerous productions, in the US and abroad. He was the creative coordinator for the musicals ''Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'', ''Via Galactica'' and ''Dude''. He was the author of two musicals, ''Stagestruck'' and ''Rent Party'' (with Alan Plater), collages of earlier compositions with dialog.<br /> |
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He authored several books on popular music (and other subjects), including: ''Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya'', and ''The Jazz Makers'' (both co-authored with Nat Hentoff), as well as ''An Encyclopedia of Quotations About Music'', and ''Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: An Encyclopedia of Classical and Contemporary Abhorrence''. And, notably, he was the author of the six-volume reference work ''Popular Music, An Annotated Index of American Popular Songs, 1920-1969'', a detailed annotated list of songs, a concept unprecedented when it was published, originally in six volumes, in the 1960s and 1970s.<br /> |
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His keen insight made Shapiro a significant player in the recording industry and his experience was extensive. At Columbia Records, where he worked from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, Shapiro was the director of international artists and repertoire, and then of music publishing. He had previously worked at promotion and public relations for Mercury Records, where he was responsible for institutional and trade publicity, record promotion, sales promotion, and artist publicity, and where he worked with David Hall, former curator of the Rogers and Hammerstein Archive of Recorded Sound. Also early in his career, following the second world war, he was editor at ''Down Beat'' magazine, and handled special promotions for the publisher Simon and Schuster.
As well, in his pre-Columbia Records years, he was a record producer and press agent for Keynote Records and National Records, and at Atlantic Records, he helped produce albums by artists such as Ruth Brown, The Clovers, Oscar Peterson, Lynn Hope and Joe Morris. He was also involved in the field of childrens’ records, working for Golden Records.<br /> |
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Attesting to his significant involvement with the recording industry, he was a trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the organization responsible for producing the Grammy Awards).<br /> |
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Some of this biography was adapted from John S. Wilson's obituary in ''The New York Times'', December 16, 1983. It was written by Amy Louise Pommier, Nat Shapiro's daughter. |
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| ⚫ | Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for [[Mercury Records]] in 1948-50, served as head of [[public relations]] for [[Broadcast Music Incorporated|BMI]] in 1955-56, and was the [[A&R]] leader for [[Columbia Records]] from |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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*[[Scott Yanow]], [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p124121/biography|pure_url=yes}} Nat Shapiro] at [[Allmusic]] |
*[[Scott Yanow]], [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p124121/biography|pure_url=yes}} Nat Shapiro] at [[Allmusic]] |
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{{Authority control |
{{Authority control}} |
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> |
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| NAME = Shapiro, Nat |
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| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = |
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American record producer and writer |
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| DATE OF BIRTH = September 27, 1922 |
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| PLACE OF BIRTH = |
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| DATE OF DEATH = December 15, 1983 |
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| PLACE OF DEATH = |
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}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Nat}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Nat}} |
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[[Category:1922 births]] |
[[Category:1922 births]] |
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[[Category:1983 deaths]] |
[[Category:1983 deaths]] |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:American music critics]] |
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[[Category:American record producers]] |
[[Category:American record producers]] |
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[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]] |
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Latest revision as of 19:18, 22 December 2022
Nat Shapiro (September 27, 1922, New York City - December 15, 1983, New York City) was an American jazz writer and record producer.
Shapiro worked in the music industry from the late 1940s; he was a promotional director for Mercury Records in 1948-50, served as head of public relations for BMI in 1955-56, and was the A&R leader for Columbia Records from 1956–66, during which time he produced dozens of records. His credits as a producer include work with Nina Simone, Phil Woods, and Michel Legrand. With Nat Hentoff, Shapiro co-edited two books on jazz, Hear Me talkin' to Ya (1955) and The Jazz Makers (1957), now recognized as classic historical efforts. He also compiled and edited Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music for Doubleday in 1978. A collection of cynical quotations, Whatever It Is, I'm Against It (1984), was published shortly after his death.
Shapiro introduced Galt MacDermot to Gerome Ragni and Jim Rado, the writers of the musical Hair, and MacDermot composed the score.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Biography of MacDermot". Archived from the original on 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
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