Danny Fields
Encyclopedia
Danny Fields is an American
journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock
scenes.
, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, he attended Harvard Law School
, but left during his first year. He moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village
in 1960, briefly enrolled at New York University
, and became involved with the burgeoning downtown arts and music scene.
, and it was there that he developed connections to Andy Warhol
's Factory
social circle. Fields occasionally shared his loft with Warhol actress Edie Sedgwick
, and wrote an account of the Warhol-sponsored Velvet Underground during their early years. (He later penned the liner notes for the band's historic Live At Max's Kansas City album, recorded in 1970, but released in 1972, after the band broke up.) Fields was one of the first people in the music business to be openly gay, at a time when most were closeted.
Fields hosted a radio show on New Jersey
's WFMU
during its groundbreaking 1968-1969 free-form years, and he was hired by Elektra Records
as a publicist. Elektra, which had primarily been a folk music
label, was having huge success in the rock record market with The Doors
, and hired Fields to publicize the band, despite the fact (discussed by Fields in numerous interviews) that he and lead singer Jim Morrison
did not like each other. Despite this mutual antagonism, Fields' PR skills got Morrison on many key teen magazine covers in 1968. In September 1968, Fields visited Detroit and Ann Arbor on the recommendation of two fellow DJs at WFMU. He recommended to Elektra that the label sign the MC5
and The Stooges
. Both bands served as major inspirations for the US and UK punk music movements of the mid- and late-1970s.
In 1975, Fields discovered the Ramones
at the club CBGB
, and helped get them signed to Sire Records
. As the band's co-manager, with Linda Stein, Fields in 1976 sent the band to England
with Linda, where they had an enormous impact, inspiring the nascent UK punk movement, including such performers as the Sex Pistols
and The Clash
. Under Fields' management the Ramones recorded Ramones, Leave Home
, and Rocket to Russia
. The 1980 Ramones album End of the Century
includes the track "Danny Says
", with Fields being the "Danny" referred to in the title.
Fields later managed other performers, including The Modern Lovers
and Steve Forbert
. In 1990, Fields discovered singer-songwriter Paleface
at a performance in New York's Chameleon club and became his manager: he helped the young artist get signed to Polygram Records.
After leaving the music business, Fields co-authored Dream On, the biography of Warhol film personality Cyrinda Foxe
, the wife of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. He subsequently wrote Linda McCartney: A Portrait, which was turned into a television miniseries by CBS. Fields currently lives in New York City.
Interviews with Fields are included in the documentaries: Nico: Icon (1995), We're Outta Here! (1997), 25 Years of Punk (2001), MC5: A True Testimonial
(2002), End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
(2003), and A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007), It's Alive 1974-1996
(2007), and Lords of the Revolution: Andy Warhol (2009).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scenes.
Early life
Fields grew up in Richmond Hill, QueensRichmond Hill, Queens
Richmond Hill is a neighborhood in central-southern Queens, New York City, USA. It is bordered by Kew Gardens to the north, Woodhaven and Ozone Park to the west, South Ozone Park to the south and South Jamaica to the east...
, New York. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, he attended Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, but left during his first year. He moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in 1960, briefly enrolled at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and became involved with the burgeoning downtown arts and music scene.
Career
Fields was a young editor at a music magazine,Teen Datebook, when he began frequenting Max's Kansas CityMax's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
, and it was there that he developed connections to Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
social circle. Fields occasionally shared his loft with Warhol actress Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
, and wrote an account of the Warhol-sponsored Velvet Underground during their early years. (He later penned the liner notes for the band's historic Live At Max's Kansas City album, recorded in 1970, but released in 1972, after the band broke up.) Fields was one of the first people in the music business to be openly gay, at a time when most were closeted.
Fields hosted a radio show on New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
's WFMU
WFMU
WFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting at 91.1 MHz FM, presenting a freeform radio format...
during its groundbreaking 1968-1969 free-form years, and he was hired by Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
as a publicist. Elektra, which had primarily been a folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
label, was having huge success in the rock record market with The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, and hired Fields to publicize the band, despite the fact (discussed by Fields in numerous interviews) that he and lead singer Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
did not like each other. Despite this mutual antagonism, Fields' PR skills got Morrison on many key teen magazine covers in 1968. In September 1968, Fields visited Detroit and Ann Arbor on the recommendation of two fellow DJs at WFMU. He recommended to Elektra that the label sign the MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
and The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
. Both bands served as major inspirations for the US and UK punk music movements of the mid- and late-1970s.
In 1975, Fields discovered the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
at the club CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
, and helped get them signed to Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
. As the band's co-manager, with Linda Stein, Fields in 1976 sent the band to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with Linda, where they had an enormous impact, inspiring the nascent UK punk movement, including such performers as the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
and The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
. Under Fields' management the Ramones recorded Ramones, Leave Home
Leave Home
Leave Home is the second studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977 through Sire Records. The album features the classic Ramones songs "Pinhead" and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"...
, and Rocket to Russia
Rocket to Russia
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on November 4, 1977 through Sire Records. It was their last with original drummer Tommy Ramone. The album incorporates surf rock and other influences. It includes some of the Ramones' best-known...
. The 1980 Ramones album End of the Century
End of the Century
T. Donald Guarisco of Allmusic notes that the "entire album is pretty controversial in the world of Ramones fandom".Dee Dee recalled hearing a song from the album on the radio, perhaps "I'm Affected": "I couldn't believe how awful it sounded. It was horrible. I hated "Baby, I Love You"...
includes the track "Danny Says
Danny Says
"Danny Says" is a ballad written by Joey Ramone. The song was originally released as the third track on the Ramones 1980 album, End of the Century. The 2002 Expanded Edition CD of the album includes a demo version of "Danny Says" among the bonus tracks...
", with Fields being the "Danny" referred to in the title.
Fields later managed other performers, including The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970–74 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison...
and Steve Forbert
Steve Forbert
Steve Forbert is an American pop music singer-songwriter. He is best known for his song "Romeo's Tune", which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980....
. In 1990, Fields discovered singer-songwriter Paleface
Paleface
Paleface is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist who has been active in the music business in the United States since 1989.-Early career:...
at a performance in New York's Chameleon club and became his manager: he helped the young artist get signed to Polygram Records.
After leaving the music business, Fields co-authored Dream On, the biography of Warhol film personality Cyrinda Foxe
Cyrinda Foxe
Cyrinda Foxe was an American actress, model and publicist, best known for her role in Andy Warhol's Bad. She was married to both David Johansen, of the New York Dolls, and Steven Tyler, of the rock band Aerosmith.-Early life and career:Foxe was born Katheleen Victoria Hetzekian in Santa Monica,...
, the wife of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. He subsequently wrote Linda McCartney: A Portrait, which was turned into a television miniseries by CBS. Fields currently lives in New York City.
Interviews with Fields are included in the documentaries: Nico: Icon (1995), We're Outta Here! (1997), 25 Years of Punk (2001), MC5: A True Testimonial
MC5: A True Testimonial
MC5: A True Testimonial, also written as MC5 * A True Testimonial, is a 2002 feature-length documentary film about the MC5, a Detroit-based rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. The film was produced by Laurel Legler and directed by David C...
(2002), End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones is a 2003 documentary film about highly influential New York punk rock band the Ramones. The film, produced and directed by Jim Fields and Michael Gramaglia, documents the band's history from their formation in the early 1970s and 22 subsequent years of...
(2003), and A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007), It's Alive 1974-1996
It's Alive 1974-1996
It's Alive 1974-1996 is a live DVD by the Ramones. It was released on October 2, 2007 by Rhino Records. It's a two-disc set and includes 118 tracks from 33 performances in eight countries, which span the groups career, from 1974 and 1996. Most of the performances were at concerts, but some were...
(2007), and Lords of the Revolution: Andy Warhol (2009).
External links
- Interview with Danny Fields (2004) on WFMUWFMUWFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting at 91.1 MHz FM, presenting a freeform radio format...
's "Music to Spazz By" (host Dave Abramson)