Morris Levy

American record label owner, club owner and music businessman.
Born August 27, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.
Died May 23, 1990 in Ghent, Columbia County, New York, USA.
Connected to mobsters, particularly the Genovese crime syndicate, Levy became a music industry executive as the owner of the Manhattan jazz club Birdland and as president of Roulette Records, Inc.

A tough and troublesome teenage runaway, Levy briefly served in the Navy before working in the nightclub scene of New York in the mid 1940s. He then ran Topsy's Chicken Roost and his adjoining jazz venue the Cock Lounge. The jazz saxophonist Charlie 'Bird' Parker was a prominent, perhaps the central, exponent of the new musical form known as bebop. Levy promised Parker he would create a club in his honor: at the close of the 1940s, Levy opened 'Birdland', at 1678 Broadway on 52nd Street.

Levy spotted an opportunity which had a dubious side. Turning the Congressional ASCAP law to his advantage he formed Patricia Music, acquiring rights to songs first performed in his clubs, like George Shearing's jazz standard "Lullaby of Birdland". (Publishing name example at Ronnie Hawkins And The Hawks (2) - Southern Love / Love Me Like You Can). He also began the questionable practice of adding his name to music credits to increase his revenue streams.

Levy became a record company owner in late 1955 when he acquired a stake in the George Goldner's Tico Records, Rama and Gee labels. Goldner relinquished his stake in January 1957, when Levy formed Roulette Records, Inc., to handle the three labels and release new recording artists on Roulette. In 1962, Goldner's Gone Records and End labels also came under Levy's control. His companies spanned every aspect of the industry- from juke-box installations and nightclubs, to retail outlets and labels. Competition in 1966 to sign Tommy James, then in his late teens, mysterious vanished overnight. Jones records sold 100m copies, but his royalties were restricted; in 2021, he estimated losing $30m to $40m from the signing. Levy was in litigation with John Lennon over publishing rights although, after several years, his case against Lennon was thrown out of court in August 1976

As the industry became more consolidated, Levy found himself in difficulties. In 1988, he was finally publicly exposed. A Federal jury in Camden, N.J., convicted him of conspiring to extort money from a Philadelphia-area record distributor. Levy was sentenced to 10 years in prison, fined $200,000 and released on bail to appeal. His appeal failed but, before he could surrender to the court, he died of liver cancer at his farm in Ghent. Biography: "Godfather of the Music Business: Morris Levy" by Richard Carlin (University Press of Mississippi, 2016).

Father of Adam Levy (2).
See Adam R. Levy & Father Enterprises Inc. for related credits.