Wed 10/14 @ 7PM
Steve Popovich, who passed was in 2011, was a legend in the music industry. He migrated from Western Pennsylvania to Northeast Ohio around 1960, and became part of the Cleveland music scene, playing in local band The Twilighters and working for one of the local branches that all the record labels had here back in the day. He rose quickly: he was soon in New York, working for CBS records, translating his passion for music into promoting and signing some of the label’s biggest acts including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis and the Jacksons. In the mid 70s, he moved back to Cleveland and launched Cleveland International Records to sign and promote Meat Loaf, who had been rejected by every label in the business, turning his 1977 debut album, Bat Out of Hell, into one of the biggest selling records of all time.
The upcoming Cleveland Stories program at the Music Box Supper Club is called “How Steve Popovich Helped Sign Michael Jackson,” zooming in on one chapter of Popovich’s adventure-packed career. It features his son Steve Popovich Jr (who has reactivated Cleveland International Records) and former Epic/Sony senior vice president Dan Beck, who recently released his memoir, You’ve Got Michael: Living Through HIStory.
They’ll share inside stories from an era of unbridled extravagance in the music business: multi-million dollar contracts, lavish parties and junkets, unlimited promotion budgets and eventually extravagant videos as the 80s superstar era dawned with Michael Jackson leading the pack. The e3vening is free, with the program starting at 7, but you can come early at 5 and have dinner. You must make a table reservation. Go HERE.
musicboxcle.com/event/steve-popovich/