Drawn to the Music

JOEL PERESMAN

Chief executive, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation
AGE 53
HOMETOWN Pittsburgh
HOBBIES Reading, New York City history and tennis

I’VE always loved music. I remember saving 63 cents when I was 6 so my mother could buy me my first single, and my older sisters bringing home Beatles and Rolling Stones albums, which I listened to endlessly. Unfortunately, after several years of trumpet and guitar lessons, it was evident that I had no musical talent. Still, I knew I wanted to be around music.

I went to the University of Texas at Austin, where I received a degree in finance. During the summers, I worked for a concert promoter in Pittsburgh, my hometown, and during the school year I embraced and was inspired by Austin’s vibrant music scene.

My father was a merchandise manager for Gimbels, the department store, in Pittsburgh. A week after I graduated from college in 1978, I went with him to New York to try to set up meetings with the limited contacts I had. By chance, one of his vendors mentioned that his cousin was the songwriter Sammy Cahn and that he would call him.

I went to Sammy’s office in Manhattan. There were pictures of him with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. I told him I liked the idea of working for a booking agency. He picked up the phone and called Lou Weiss, head of the William Morris Agency in New York at the time. Lou told me to come right over. They offered me a position a week later.
Complete on > http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/jobs/27boss.html?partner=rss&emc=rss