Harold Leventhal (May 24, 1919 – October 4, 2005)[1] was an American music manager. Leventhal's career began as a song plugger for Irving Berlin and then Benny Goodman. While working for Goodman, he connected with a new artist, Frank Sinatra, booking him as a singer for a Benny Goodman event. Leventhal later managed The Weavers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Alan Arkin, Judy Collins, Theodore Bikel, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Mary Travers, Tom Paxton, Don McLean and many others, and promoted major concert events in the genre, thus playing a significant role in the popularization and influence of American folk music in the 1950s and 1960s.[2] He died in 2005 at the age of 86.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (October 6, 2005). "Harold Leventhal, Promoter of Folk Music, Dies at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
- ^ Applebome, Peter (November 26, 1998). "He Caught Folk On the Rise And Held On". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2009.