Lou was my
boss at the best record company of the time: Island Records Inc. Boss as in the
movies: good to his people but I would not want to be on the other side.
Late 80’s:
Robert Palmer, U2, Steve Winwood (on Warner), Melissa, Marianne, Bob’s Legend,
Tone Loc & Delicious Vinyl …and so many more: I will not accept any
contradiction: we were the best!
Roughly 50
employees, we were a team, Lou our guide and mentor. We had fun coming to work.
Lou had a
big boat, everything about him was big: himself, his car, house, and his sense
of humor.
Traditionally
on Wednesday we had lunch all together: Pizzas were brought from one of these
delicious pizzerias in Little Italy, nearby our offices on East 4th
Street. Just above the landmark Tower Records, flagship of all record stores at
the time.
And in our
building, on higher floors, Keith Richards and other Rock royalties used to
live.
Hence why
were happy at Island.
During the
hot New York City summers Lou would take us on his boat, docked on the East
River a few street away, and we would sail toward the Statue of Liberty; there
the boat would quietly moor and we would eat our delicious pizzas, listening to
all the brilliant new music coming from the Island artists.
I remember thinking, «I am sitting on top of the world’’ on Lou’s big boat, nicely positioned in the shade of the historical statue. I was.
I remember thinking, «I am sitting on top of the world’’ on Lou’s big boat, nicely positioned in the shade of the historical statue. I was.
But it was
not only fun, we were all hard working, obsessed to reach the top of the
Billboard charts, and once there, stay!
Lou, but
also all the other working there, Bill, Bob, Jim, Kathy,..were my inspirations
when I started Island Record France a few years later. I told everybody I was
hiring: I want to pay you to have fun! For most of them, this was definitely a
new concept
Island
Records France was doing very well but (too) rapidly the company was sold to
Polygram and shortly after its chairman Alain Levy closed a very young and
successful company. In retrospect it makes sense: all about Alain Levy was
small, so small
Good Bye
Lou
JP
Paris