Lorren Daro

Lorren Daro (born Loren Darro Schwartz, 1937–2017) was an American talent agent known for his involvement in the Los Angeles music scene in the 1960s. His contacts included Beach Boys member Brian Wilson, session musician Van Dyke Parks, jingle writer Tony Asher, and Byrds members David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Roger McGuinn.

Daro helped connect Wilson to Asher for the writing of the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds (1966). He is also infamous for having introduced Wilson to marijuana and LSD; the latter drug is sometimes cited as the cause of Wilson's subsequent mental health struggles. Later in his life, Daro was a tour manager, concert promoter, and author of two self-published books.

Background Loren Darro Schwartz was born in 1937 and grew up in Beverly Hills, California. where he majored in theatre.

During the 1960s, Schwartz was employed with the William Morris Agency – who were also representing the Beach Boys – and resided in an apartment on Harper Avenue in West Hollywood. There, he regularly hosted listening and smoking parties; frequent attendees included Asher, members of the Byrds, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, and session musician Van Dyke Parks. Schwartz called his apartment a "Gertrude Stein-styled salon. I had the best pot and happening musicians."

In the 1986 biography Heroes and Villains, author Steven Gaines quotes anonymous sources who described Schwartz as "something of a social manipulator" and a "new-wave Jewish intellectual". Another described the scene of his apartment as "a little like Paris in the days when the impressionist painters met at coffeehouses." The same comparison was made in a later blog post by Schwartz. Asher recalled that he would occasionally "see Brian [at Loren's house]—but he never stayed long." He characterized Schwartz and Schwartz's wife, Judy, as having "a great influence on Brian."

Schwartz recalled that Wilson's dosage was 125 micrograms of "pure Owsley" and that his first experience included "the full-on ego death". Marilyn later said that, to her knowledge, Wilson only took LSD one more time, which was again under Schwartz's supervision. Conversely, Schwartz said that he never supplied LSD to Wilson a second time, going on to characterize Marilyn as a "moronic, bovine wife". The property was purchased by the San Diego City Council in March 1995 for $800,000 – $250,000 of which went to Daro after outstanding property taxes were paid. In 1997, Daro moved to San Francisco where he became a literary agent. During this time he experimented with prasterone in response to chronic fatigue and minor arthritis. Daro reported a positive effect: "This energy feels natural, not like having a lot of coffee or stimulants. My mind is also sharper and my arthritic stiffness is gone".

Since 1999, Daro had resided in Cobb, California.

In 2004, Daro appeared in David Leaf's documentary Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile. He was interviewed for Carlin's 2006 biography of Wilson, Catch a Wave. In the book, Carlin writes, "Brian's drug use would eventually be blamed for much of his subsequent emotional and psychiatric ills. As a result, some consider Schwartz to be a truly dark figure, but, unsurprisingly, he sees things differently." In 2012, a written account from Daro regarding his association with Wilson was published by Everett True's website Collapse Board.