Meet The Man Who Worked With The Biggest Names In Rock
I’ve been lucky enough to have interviewed many, many rock stars over my career. Sometimes I like to pull back the curtain and chat about sides of the music business that may not be all that familiar to you. That’s why I got in touch with my old friend George Stone. He was the Philadelphia promo manager for Warner Brothers Records for over 20 years. and I thought you’d like to hear a few stories from the man who worked with the biggest names in rock.
Great Philly Promo People
George was one of a group of elite promotions people here in Philly. He and I mentioned a few of the other local Philly record promo people in our interview, like Bobbi Silver and Matty “The Humdinger” Singer. Bobbi was the inspiration for the Bobbi Flekman character (played by Fran Drescher) in the movie This Is Spinal Tap. What a bunch of characters they all were! We also had Michael Lessner at Capitol, Rick “Rico” Alden at Elektra, Frank Sciarra at Atlantic and Herb “Babe” Gordon at Columbia. There was Richie Tamburro (brother of legendary Philly DJ Butterball!) at EMI, Mel Zulker with A and M, Biff Kennedy at Epic and Pat Milanese over at RCA. Each of them had their own creative ways of trying to get records played on the radio. I really enjoyed working with all of these folks.
Some of the promo peeps (none mentioned here) were a little on the shady side. George Stone, though, was always a straight shooter, totally accommodating to stations, and was always easy to work with. He worked hard to get his records added and never got edgeways if he didn’t get an “add” from the station. George and I could have easily talked for hours, and we probably will have a part 2 of this interview! Hope you enjoy our chat, and many thanks to George for his time and friendship! Don’t forget to check out the gallery below, featuring George and some of the amazing folks with whom he has worked.
A tale of two Georges. George Harrison and a young George Stone.
George Stone with Tom Petty, who signed with Warner Brothers in 1989.
Bob Marley with two Warner Brothers guys – George Silva and George Stone.
You no doubt recognize those two dudes with George Stone and David Lee Roth. John DeBella and Pierre Robert!
That’s George Stone and his wife Sandy with Madonna! I see Philly radio legend Glenn Kalina and his wife Stavra on the left!
Steve Martin’s biggest albums were on warner Brothers in the mid 70s. That’s George with Steve.
What a shot! next to George stone is Jerry Abear, former WYSP jock, Alice Cooper and Bernie Taupin!
