Wed 12/3 @ 7PM
There’s never been anyone quite like Steve Popovich. He arrived in Cleveland from Western Pennsylvania like he was shot out of a cannon, making a big mark on the local music and record company scene before heading to Epic Records in New York where he was involved in signing artists such as Bruce Springsteen, the Jacksons and many more.
But then he discovered an artist he was passionate about that he couldn’t convince his label to sign — and that artist had been turned down by every major label. So Popovich returned to Cleveland where he established a boutique label run out of his home in Willoughby Hills called Cleveland International Records to sign that artist. That artists was Meat Loaf, whose debut album for Cleveland Internation, Bat Out of Hell, became one of the best-selling albums of all time, thanks to Popovich’s relentless promotion.
In the 1980s, Popovich moved down to Nashville to head Polygram’s Nashville branch. But he never forgot his ethnic — and Cleveland — roots. His first act was to re-issue a flock of Frankie Yankovic polka albums. When he believed, he REALLY believed. Later on, he returned to Cleveland to reactivate Cleveland International to make sure acts he was passionate about had a home. He passed away in 2011. His son, Steve Jr., has kept Cleveland International alive, reissuing some of the old albums along with some new material.
Steve Jr. will be one of the panelists at a Cleveland Stories evening at the Music Box Supper Club called “How Steve Popovich & Cleveland International Records changed Rock n’ Roll.” He’ll be joined by John Gorman, the creative mind behind WMMS in its heyday, when it played a huge role as a linchpin of the campaign to break Meat Loaf.
Also on the panel are a pair of Cleveland-based attorneys, Dennis Terez and Scott Orille, presumably to talk about the long-term legal battle between CBS Records and Popovich Sr and later Jr to receive a fair accounting for the royalties on the mega-selling Bat Out of Hell. (It was finally settled eight years after Popovich Sr’s death.)
The program is free; doors open at 5pm for dinner. Make a reservation here.
musicboxcle.com/event/cleveland-international