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| Herb Cohen files lawsuit against Barney Hoskyns and Random House On June 18, 2009, music industry veteran Herb Cohen filed suit for libel against British rock journalist Barney Hoskyns and his publisher, Random House, Inc., with regard to Hoskyns' book Lowside of the Road, A Life of Tom Waits, which was published in the United States in May 2009. Cohen has worked as a personal manager as well as a record company and music publishing company executive since the mid 1950s. Some of Cohen's music management clients over the years have included Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, George Duke, Linda Ronstadt and Tom Waits. As well, he worked with Lenny Bruce and Maya Angelou. In addition to producing Pete Seeger's first concert in Los Angeles in 1954, Cohen handled Montreux Jazz Festival tours of Japan and the U.S., and also produced the U.S. portion of the Nelson Mandela concerts in London's Wembley Stadium upon Mandela's release; Cohen brought over top American artists for that historic event including Bonnie Raitt, Anita Baker and many others. He has been producing concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South America for over forty years. In the book, Hoskyns states that during the time that Cohen was Waits' manager, from 1971 to 1982, Cohen "robbed" money from Waits, and that Waits sued Cohen and his company, Third Story Music, Inc. for fraudulent accounting practices. Hoskyns also stated that Cohen "helped himself" to money from his other management clients. Cohen has alleged that these statements are false and defamatory. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Jazz News :: home page |