Shelly Liebowitz

Shelly Liebowitz (February 2, 1946 – March 12, 2019) was an American record executive, promoter, producer, and manager. He was the CEO of SRI Label Group, a Los Angeles-based, independent record company that specializes in modern and classic jazz, blues, country and rock. In his career as a producer and promoter, he worked with artists ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to John Lennon. He licensed recordings worldwide, and worked as a consultant to several major music labels.

Early career As a teenager in the early 1960s, Liebowitz was enrolled in The Juilliard School. While studying at Juilliard, he had the opportunity to attend his first recording session. It was soon after that he decided to leave the school to watch and learn hands-on the recording process under top artists and producers. Initially drawn to the industry through performing, he joined a local New York City act called The Phantoms on guitar & vocals. Though the group had a strong local following, he realized after a time that his strength and desire was not in performing. Deciding to pursue a career in the business side of recording, he took on jobs in the promotion department for several labels, including Canadian American & Roulette, working his way up to the A&R department while learning everything he could about the industry.

Major labels (late 1960s-1980) At Roulette he began a working relationship with Count Basie, who introduced him in turn to Sammy Davis Jr., an artist who, along with his partners in The Rat Pack, (Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin) Liebowitz would work with through his lifetime. Basie also introduced him to Ella Fitzgerald, with whom Liebowitz would collaborate on several projects. By the 1970s he was moving heavily into production, working with top acts in the jazz and rock worlds, including Miles Davis, the Rolling Stones, Frankie Avalon, and more. Rapper Snoop Dogg was slated to play the title role. Liebowitz was also working on Legs, a television pilot with six completed feature-length scripts, as well as a theatrical production, The Rock and Roll Bus, set on the tour bus of the first integrated rock tour in 1957. a partnership with electronic payment program Eclypse Solutions in which they forward a percentage of their merchants' fee to youth enrichment programs at local schools.

In 2017, Liebowitz wrote and provided photos for Doing It On The Downbeat: A Pictorial View Of My Life In Music. The 52 page hard-cover book revealed his early introduction to his music career and contained photos dating from early jazz and blues artists, to famous songwriters, rock and country artists spanning his more than 50 years in the industry. Photos include those of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison, Etta James, Miles Davis and many more rare photos from his collection.

Death Liebowitz died in March 2019, in Thousand Oaks, California, at the age of 73.