Lee Solters
As I describe in "Bumping Into Geniuses" one of my early mentors in was Lee Solters. I wrote the following tribute to Lee for Billboard (which coincidentally was there I got my first job in the music business as a teenager in the Fall of 1968) .
"Heaven needed a great PR guy," said an email from Larry Solters announcing that his father Lee Solters has passed away in his sleep on May 16th,2009 at the age of eighty-nine. Born in Brooklyn as Nathan "Nussy" Cohen, Lee wrote about High School basketball for the New York Times , graduated from NYU with a degree in journalism and then embarked on a PR career than literally spanned seventy years.
In 1972 when I was twenty-two I became the token rock and roll guy at Lee’s company ,then called Solters Sabinson and Roskin which represented literally half of Broadway’s musicals, several Hollywood films, stars like Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Alan King, as well as The Four Seasons restaurant in New York, Cesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus .
I was part of an insular clique of New York rock writers but Lee disabused me of the notion that PR was about getting favors . Our job was to create stories . The key words in his lexicon were "angles" that could shape a lead paragraph, and "items" with news or jokes that could be serviced to the columns still written by the likes of Earl Wilson .
In his earlier days Lee had flacked for Cary Grant and Mae West. With his thick glasses, boxy suits and a pugnacious New York accent Lee seemed to have sprung out of a nineteen forties movie. I was initially intimidated by his gruff exterior, but I soon discovered that Lee was always the least cynical person in the room, a happy warrior whose frenzy to get press for his clients was rooted in an almost child-like enthusiasm . To Lee, publicity was end in itself. A good PR scam had a poetic validity independent of any particular client.
My first assignment was saxophonist Stan Getz who had a gig at the Rainbow Grill. Getz was long out of fashion with music critics and had no new record to talk about. At Lee’s morning staff meeting he impatiently asked me a series of questions and unearthed the fact that Getz had a birthday coming up. "So do a birthday party" he shouted as if I had over-looked the most obvious opportunity in the world.
Guided by more experienced colleagues, I stammered my way through a conversation with Getz, and fashioned a "birthday party" at the nightclub which was attended by Louis Armstrong’s widow Louise, and musicians Zoot Sims and Dizzy Gillespie. Of course it wasn’t a real party, but a photo-op scheduled in the morning for the convenience of local TV crews, two of whom, to my amazement, dutifully recorded Stan blowing out his "birthday candles."
As I was leaving the office that night Lee yelled out to me. Didn’t I want to stay and watch the coverage on the TV in his office? As he switched between the two channels the old pro beamed with satisfaction. The stunt had worked. Seeing that gleam in his eye, my life was never the same. He was a teacher not only of the craft of PR but of the art of enjoying every moment. Later in 1973 Led Zeppelin became a client of his firm and I was the day-to-day guy. When the band was robbed at the end of their American tour and the New York Daily News front page headline said "Led Zep robbed of $300g" he patted me on the shoulder approvingly and said "See if we hadn’t done our work these last few months they would have said "Rock band robbed."
Lee Solters kept working almost to the very end of his life having outlasted most of his partners, James O’Rourke, Harvey Sabinson, Sheldon Roskin and Monroe Friedman. In the last few years he worked with Jerry Digney. Occasionally I would run into Lee at big events where he would complain about photographers who tried to shoot Streisand from the wrong angle or recount the latest Michael Jackson drama.
In addition to his son Larry, Lee Solters is survived by his daughter, Susan Reynolds; his grandchildren, Jonah Reynolds and Maxie Solters; and his great-grandson, Elijah Reynolds.
"Heaven needed a great PR guy," said an email from Larry Solters announcing that his father Lee Solters has passed away in his sleep on May 16th,2009 at the age of eighty-nine. Born in Brooklyn as Nathan "Nussy" Cohen, Lee wrote about High School basketball for the New York Times , graduated from NYU with a degree in journalism and then embarked on a PR career than literally spanned seventy years.
In 1972 when I was twenty-two I became the token rock and roll guy at Lee’s company ,then called Solters Sabinson and Roskin which represented literally half of Broadway’s musicals, several Hollywood films, stars like Barbara Streisand, Frank Sinatra and Alan King, as well as The Four Seasons restaurant in New York, Cesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and The Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus .
I was part of an insular clique of New York rock writers but Lee disabused me of the notion that PR was about getting favors . Our job was to create stories . The key words in his lexicon were "angles" that could shape a lead paragraph, and "items" with news or jokes that could be serviced to the columns still written by the likes of Earl Wilson .
In his earlier days Lee had flacked for Cary Grant and Mae West. With his thick glasses, boxy suits and a pugnacious New York accent Lee seemed to have sprung out of a nineteen forties movie. I was initially intimidated by his gruff exterior, but I soon discovered that Lee was always the least cynical person in the room, a happy warrior whose frenzy to get press for his clients was rooted in an almost child-like enthusiasm . To Lee, publicity was end in itself. A good PR scam had a poetic validity independent of any particular client.
My first assignment was saxophonist Stan Getz who had a gig at the Rainbow Grill. Getz was long out of fashion with music critics and had no new record to talk about. At Lee’s morning staff meeting he impatiently asked me a series of questions and unearthed the fact that Getz had a birthday coming up. "So do a birthday party" he shouted as if I had over-looked the most obvious opportunity in the world.
Guided by more experienced colleagues, I stammered my way through a conversation with Getz, and fashioned a "birthday party" at the nightclub which was attended by Louis Armstrong’s widow Louise, and musicians Zoot Sims and Dizzy Gillespie. Of course it wasn’t a real party, but a photo-op scheduled in the morning for the convenience of local TV crews, two of whom, to my amazement, dutifully recorded Stan blowing out his "birthday candles."
As I was leaving the office that night Lee yelled out to me. Didn’t I want to stay and watch the coverage on the TV in his office? As he switched between the two channels the old pro beamed with satisfaction. The stunt had worked. Seeing that gleam in his eye, my life was never the same. He was a teacher not only of the craft of PR but of the art of enjoying every moment. Later in 1973 Led Zeppelin became a client of his firm and I was the day-to-day guy. When the band was robbed at the end of their American tour and the New York Daily News front page headline said "Led Zep robbed of $300g" he patted me on the shoulder approvingly and said "See if we hadn’t done our work these last few months they would have said "Rock band robbed."
Lee Solters kept working almost to the very end of his life having outlasted most of his partners, James O’Rourke, Harvey Sabinson, Sheldon Roskin and Monroe Friedman. In the last few years he worked with Jerry Digney. Occasionally I would run into Lee at big events where he would complain about photographers who tried to shoot Streisand from the wrong angle or recount the latest Michael Jackson drama.
In addition to his son Larry, Lee Solters is survived by his daughter, Susan Reynolds; his grandchildren, Jonah Reynolds and Maxie Solters; and his great-grandson, Elijah Reynolds.
posted by Danny at
10:25 AM
1 Comments:
Danny, a very nice tribute to Lee. I with Solters & Roskin in the mid-70s, mostly with Michael Frank and Bud Weston, launching Self Magazine, writing syndicated items for the Hudson Brothers, covering the Circus, Hello Dolly, Beatlemania and others. I was writing from the time I sat down until the time I left. It was a great experience. FYI: Sheldon for some reason fired me when I called in sick one morning. I think there was something going on he needed me for, I don't know. But everyone there was passionate and above-board with their word there. I remember the music group, hunkered over typewriters behind the receptionist. Hope you're doing well, and I'm glad I found your blog post about Lee. -- Tim Schoch
Post a Comment
<< Home