Morris Levy (born Moishe Levy; August 27, 1927 – May 21, 1990) was an American entrepreneur in the fields of jazz clubs, music publishing, and the independent record industry. Levy was cofounder and owner of Roulette Records, founding partner of the Birdland jazz club and the Roulette Room. He was a subject of investigations into organized crime and the music industry, and was convicted of extortion shortly before his death.

At the peak of his business career, Levy owned more than 90 companies employing 900 people, Karin assisted in all aspects of Roulette Records, including signing talent and producing music; such as Richie Grasso, Tommy James, Frankie Lymon, and Tito Puente, among many others. At one point, Morris claimed the rights to the phrase rock and roll itself, which became widely employed after its use by his friend Alan Freed. Levy added his name to the songwriting credits of many artists who recorded for his label.

In June 1975, Levy and Nathan McCalla (aka Big Nat; né Nathan Calven McCalla; 1929–1980), a vice president of Roulette Records, were indicted for assaulting an off-duty police officer, Charles Heinz, causing Heinz to lose an eye. The case was later dismissed, and all records were sealed. McCalla was subsequently murdered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also convicted were Howard Fisher (Roulette's controller) and Dominick Canterino (a Caporegime in the Genovese crime family). Lamonte entered the federal witness protection program.

During his appeal, Levy remained free on $3 million bail,

Also in 1989, as the principal shareholder of BeckZack Corp., which owned all 81 of the Strawberries record stores, Levy sold the chain.

Before Levy could report to jail, he died of cancer on May 20, 1990, in Ghent, New York.

Posthumous lawsuit

In 1993, a court found Levy's estate posthumously liable for $4 million in a case initiated by Herman Santiago and Jimmy Merchant of the Teenagers, authors of the song "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", who sued Levy for unpaid songwriting royalties. During the trial, the two testified they had received just $1,000 for the 1956 hit, which sold more than 3 million copies.

However, in 1996, this ruling was overturned on appeal because Santiago and Merchant failed to submit interest due to the statute of limitations. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a further appeal.

Personal and family

Levy lived in a Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan, New York City

  • Levy first married Patricia Caraeff (née Byrne) on August 26, 1950, in Manhattan. She had been the widow of Edward Isidor Caraeff (1915–1950). Morris Levy named one of his companies, "Patricia Music," after her.

The Morris Levy Charitable Foundation was created following his death in 1990.

Media

Filmography (videography)

Levy was played by Paul Mazursky in the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall in Love, and he was an inspiration for the HBO television series The Sopranos (1999–2007) character Hesh Rabkin—who made a fortune defrauding mostly R&B performers, underpaying royalties, pressing unauthorized records, and who owned lavish New Jersey horse-racing stables. Levy was also portrayed by David Gianopoulos in the 1999 television film Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story.

Book (non fiction)

Levy featured prominently in the 2010 autobiography Me, The Mob, and The Music by Tommy James, leader of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells.

In the book, James characterized Levy as willing to strong-arm the talent, saying artists signed to Roulette were there to produce money for the company, having their needs met only when it pleased Levy. Asking to be paid meant intimidation; to survive, those under contract to Roulette needed to find a means of generating income that did not involve the record company, such as personally booked tours.

James estimated that Roulette owed him $30–40 million in unpaid royalties. and functioned as a money laundering operation. In the early 1970s, Levy was at the wrong end of a mob war. James had to leave New York for a time to avoid a mob hit, which explained why he recorded an album in Nashville in 1972.

It was only after Roulette Records and Levy's Big Seven Music publishing company were sold (the record company to an EMI and Rhino Records partnership, the music publishing company to Windswept Pacific Music which was later sold to EMI) that James began to receive significant royalty checks from sales of his records.

Companies

Music companies, record companies and labels owned by Levy included the following:

  • Adam VIII
  • Big Seven Music
  • Buddah Records
  • Interview, Morris Levy on the Today Show, September 1986
  • The Story of Morris Levy's Rat Fink Room
  • John Broven, Record makers and breakers: voices of the independent rock 'n' roll pioneers, University of Illinois Press, 2009
  • "FBI Investigation of Morris Levy," by Jack Louis Marshall, FBI, June 5, 1961, to August 10, 1961, New York City FBI Field Office File No. 92-2015 / Bureau Field File No. 92-5493