Insight
Massive fame requires parental hatred and youth rebellion, not just art
“So if you can be that definition of rebellion, You can be the thing that the parents hate, that they can say they love. That's how you get to be Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Sinatra. You can't get that big by people just liking your art.”
Assertion Supported
The Chitlin Circuit forced Black artists to perform for free
“If you were a black artist and you had a single, you went to Cleveland, you played a concert for a promoter who was a partner with the radio station. They played your record. That's why you went and did it, not to get paid. You did it because if you didn't go,…”
Insight
Trust provides grace during failures while contracts invite retaliation
“When you fuck up, if you have a contract, they beat the shit out of you. When it's trust, the guy can say to you, I know you did the best you tried. I appreciate you trying.”
Assertion Supported
Jimi Hendrix prompted Shep Gordon to begin managing Alice Cooper
“He said, are you Jewish? And I said, yeah, you should be a manager. And the Chambers brothers were sitting there, and he turned to Lester and said, is that band from Phoenix still in your basement? He said, yeah, you should tell them you found the Jewish guy t…”
Disclosure
Alice Cooper gained fame by not denying false chicken-biting rumors
“So they actually, the press was at Alice, ripped its head off and drank the blood, and we never claimed that it wasn't true. It wasn't true. We never claimed it wasn't true. And that's what catapulted them.”
Insight
Pairing an unknown person with celebrities manufactures instant fame
“You put someone famous next to someone who's not famous, all of a sudden they become famous. Kim Kardashian is maybe our prime example today of that.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shep Gordon managed some artists for years having only met them once
“There are artists I managed that I met once in my life, twice in my life, who I managed for years.”
Insight
Once clients are famous, management shifts strictly to filtering inbound requests
“Once you get to a certain point of fame, The filtering system is really important. So my job was, wasn't to be with the artist, not to get to know him, not to have them. My job was to get him famous, and then filter.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shep Gordon managed all his clients without contracts, except Anne Murray
“Never had a contract with any of my artists. The only artist I ever had a contract with was Ann Murray, whose lawyer made me sign a contract. That's the only one I ever had a contract with.”
Insight
Celebrities cope with fame by treating their public persona as a costume
“The advice that I give to everyone I've worked with and the ones that are able to do it Or able to later on in life do it, is to always think about the person that's out there as a character. Put it to sleep, like when you go out to dinner and you're Michael D…”
Insight
Broadcast media distribution turns artists into billionaires
“It was really how did groups of artists get from a place where they made nothing to where they're billionaires. And they all had the same kind of things in common, which was broadcast.”
Disclosure
Chefs worked on Food Network for free in exchange for commercial slots
“I told them I would do it pro bono, but they had to, if I could get them a TV network, they had to work for free for a couple of years, two, three. They had to let me go tell somebody I can get all the talent free, but if they get broadcast, they don't need me…”
Insight
Working for free prevents you from earning people's respect
“Money equates to respect. If you work for free for people, you don't get their respect.”
Opinion
Lady Gaga represents exactly what Alice Cooper represented 40 years ago
“You know, you look at Lady Gaga today, she's exactly what Alice was 40 years ago.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Advisors fiercely opposed Teddy Pendergrass's 'women only' concerts
“For Teddy Pendergrass, for women only shows, there wasn't a person in his life who didn't tell him he shouldn't do it. Lawyer told him he'd get sued. Record company told him he'd never sell a record to a male ever again.”
Insight
Negotiating win-win deals is harder on behalf of clients than oneself
“For me, I'm pretty successful at doing win-win, because I don't have to jump into stuff. For my artists, I'm not as successful, because there are a lot of people out there that, that want losers, and you have to make sure you're not one of them, that your arti…”
Assertion Partly supported
Alice Cooper emptied the room while opening for The Doors
“Lester took me to see him, and they were opening for the doors at a place called, ah, the Cheetah. And they basically emptied the room.”
Disclosure
Alice Cooper qualified as Canadian content to hack radio airplay laws
“And then we went up to Toronto and found the guys who did the Guess Who. Who had a studio in Toronto, and gave it, got found a co-writer, Canadian, and brought the record in as a Canadian content, which I don't think an American band had ever done before.”
Insight
A talent manager's primary role is planning one year ahead
“I always felt my job for an artist, whether they were a chef or a filmmaker or a musical artist, was to get ahead of them a year and build a highway for them and try and make sure they avoided the potholes.”
Disclosure
Shep Gordon's firm only took acts with a number one record
“So what I did is I set up a rule in my office that we didn't take acts until after they had already had a number one act record, and they were meaningful on the road. I think we set our barrier at five, 3500 people or something, so that they had already been t…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Dean Fearing received the first-ever $50,000 paid chef appearance fee
“The mansion in Dallas, very, very, very famous, very well respected by all the chefs, and I got him, I think, 50,000 dollars, which was the first time any chef got paid for anything.”
Shep Gordon