Voting Station

Albert Grossman

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Promoter

The Resume

    (May 21, 1926-January 25, 1986)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Co-owner of the Gate of Horn folk music club
    Co-organizer of the first Newport Folk Festival (1959)
    Managed Odetta, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, the Band, Gordon Lightfoot and Todd Rundgren
    Founded Bearsville Records (1970)
    Died of a heart attack during a trans-Atlantic Concorde flight

Why he might be annoying:

    His name was gross, man!
    He claimed to have an economics degree from the University of Chicago, but he had actually attended the less prestigious Roosevelt College.
    Bob Dylan said, ‘He didn’t talk so much as growl.’
    He charged a 25% commission instead of the standard 15%.
    He set up publishing companies for his clients that paid half of the royalties to himself.
    Mary Travers said she admired him until she realized he was making more money off of Peter, Paul and Mary’s records than any member of the group.
    When he learned that Janis Joplin was abusing heroin, instead of trying to help her kick the habit, he took out a $200,000 insurance policy on her.
    After Joplin’s death, he became increasingly reclusive, forcing clients to come to his home in Woodstock to discuss business.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He generally negotiated better deals than other managers, so his clients were better off financially even after his 25% commission. (Or as he liked to justify it: ‘Every time you talk to me, you’re ten percent smarter than before. So I just add that ten percent on to what all the dummies charge for doing nothing.’)
    Before he alerted his clients to the value of publishing rights, recording artists routinely signed deals that gave their record label 100% of the royalties.
    He landed Peter, Paul and Mary a contract that gave them creative control over their recordings and the packaging of their music, an unprecedented deal for a new act.
    A concert promoter said, ‘Albert was the first guy to insist his artists be treated as artists.’
    Peter Yarrow claimed, ‘Personally, artistically and in a business sense, Albert Grossman was the sole reason Bob Dylan made it.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 47 Votes: 80.85% Annoying