Arnold Stiefel | |
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 Stiefel in 2013 | |
| Born | |
| Occupation(s) | Talent manager, film producer, television producer, entrepreneur |
Arnold Stiefel, chairman and CEO of Stiefel Entertainment, is an American talent manager, film and television producer, and entrepreneur. [1] [2] Over the course of his career, Stiefel has worked with Bette Midler, Prince, and Toni Braxton, amongst others. He is best known for his association with Rod Stewart, whom he has managed since 1983. [3]
Stiefel was born in Philadelphia. There, his father, Alex Stiefel, owned the renowned Uptown Theater, the "crown jewel of the Philadelphia black entertainment scene." [4] Stiefel developed an early interest in entertainment through exposure to classic films and to iconic rhythm and blues artists such as The Supremes, Fats Domino, Etta James, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. [5]
At 18, Stiefel moved from Philadelphia to New York City, where he joined Bantam Books in an entry-level position. He rose up the ranks, working with Jacqueline Susann, Gore Vidal, and Tom Wolfe, [6] and when he left Bantam, at 22, he was one of book publishing's youngest directors. After he was recruited by Paul Kohner, Stiefel moved from New York to Los Angeles, where he joined the Paul Kohner Agency as a literary agent. After a year, he left Kohner to found his own company, The Stiefel Office.
His first client was the then-unknown screenwriter Bo Goldman. Shortly after signing with Stiefel, Goldman wrote the script for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1975. [7] Stiefel broadened his roster to include actors and musicians, signing Bette Midler, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, [8] and Jeff Goldblum, [9] among others. In 1978, [10] he paired his clients Goldman and Midler for The Rose , [9] which was nominated for four Academy Awards [11] and won three Golden Globes. [12] Subsequently, The Stiefel Office was acquired by ICM; after 19 months Stiefel and his clients defected to the William Morris Agency, creating front-page headlines in Hollywood trade magazines. [13] During his two years at William Morris, Stiefel worked with Cher, Val Kilmer, Jonathan Demme, and Matthew Broderick. [14] [15]
In September 1983, Stiefel left William Morris to start his own management and production company, Stiefel Entertainment. He began managing Rod Stewart immediately thereafter, working to restore Stewart's credibility as a rock artist, which had suffered since the release of Stewart's disco-inflected 1978 hit, "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" [16]
By 1988, Stewart had achieved an unprecedented level of success. [17] A US tour, originally scheduled for four months, was extended to 13, grossing $50 million, and Stewart's 1988 album, Out of Order , sold more than 2 million copies in North America within months of its release. [18] In 1994, Stewart staged a concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, drawing an audience of 4.2 million people and setting a record for the largest live concert in history. [19] To date, Stewart has sold more than 150 million albums, including the Grammy winning [20] Great American Songbook records. Released between 2002 and 2010, the Songbook collection of five albums is the best selling series of all time. [21]
In 1984, Stiefel expanded the management roster of Stiefel Entertainment to include Prince, The Bangles, Gene Loves Jezebel, Morrissey, [22] Toni Braxton, and Guns N' Roses. [23] In 1992, Stiefel co-founded Gasoline Alley Records, [24] a joint venture with MCA, [25] most notably releasing Sublime's multi-platinum eponymous debut. [26]
As a motion picture producer, Stiefel's credits include the Warner Bros. film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil , directed by Clint Eastwood, the film rights for which Stiefel acquired prior to the book's publication. [27] Additionally, he was a producer on Jonathan Demme's Talking Heads concert film, Stop Making Sense , [28] and also produced Prince's Razzie award-winning Graffiti Bridge . [29] Stiefel served as the executive producer on About Last Night... , the film adaptation of David Mamet's award-winning play, Sexual Perversity in Chicago , and has produced several television specials for Rod Stewart. [30] He also produced Tonight's the Night , a 2003 musical based on Stewart's greatest hits, which ran for a year in London's West End. A new production of Tonight's the Night toured the UK beginning in January 2014. [31]
In 2002, Stiefel partnered with rock promoter Andrew Hewitt to reinvent Il Sole, a restaurant on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. With a clientele that included celebrities and industry heavyweights, Il Sole [32] became a "power restaurant", and retained its status until Stiefel and Hewitt sold it in 2011. [33]
Robert Jonathan Demme was an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter whose career spanned more than 30 years.
The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally, adapted from Thomas Harris's 1988 novel of the same name. It stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer named "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims. To catch him, she seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer. The film also features performances from Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald, and Kasi Lemmons.
Sir Roderick David Stewart is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 120 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top-ten singles in the UK, six of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top-ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Jacqueline Susann was an American novelist and actress. Her iconic novel, Valley of the Dolls (1966), is one of the best-selling books in publishing history. With her two subsequent works, The Love Machine (1969) and Once Is Not Enough (1973), Susann became the first author to have three novels top The New York Times Best Seller list consecutively.
It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook is the first album of American pop standards recorded by British musician Rod Stewart, and his 20th album overall. It was released on 22 October 2002, and became the first in a five-volume series.
As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook, Volume II is Rod Stewart's second album of pop standards, and his 21st album overall. It was released on 14 October 2003 by J Records.
Stardust... the Great American Songbook, Volume III is the third studio album of pop standards by British musician Rod Stewart, released on 19 October 2004 by J Records, and his 22nd album overall. The album was dedicated to the Tartan Army.
Still the Same... Great Rock Classics of Our Time is the 24th album by Rod Stewart, released on 10 October 2006. After four years of success singing pop standards from the Great American Songbook, Still the Same was composed of classic rock covers.
Misery is a 1990 American psychological thriller film directed by Rob Reiner, based on Stephen King's 1987 novel of the same name, starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Lauren Bacall, Richard Farnsworth, and Frances Sternhagen. The plot centers around an author who is held captive by an obsessive fan who forces him to rewrite the finale to his novel series.
Isn't She Great is a 2000 American biographical comedy-drama film that presents a fictionalized biography of author Jacqueline Susann, played by Bette Midler. An international co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan, the film was directed by Andrew Bergman from a screenplay by Paul Rudnick based on a 1995 New Yorker profile by Michael Korda. The film covers Susann's entire life, focusing on her early struggles as an aspiring actress relentlessly hungry for fame, her relationship with press agent husband Irving Mansfield, with whom she had an institutionalized autistic son, her success as the author of Valley of the Dolls, and her battle with and subsequent death from breast cancer. In addition to Midler and Lane, the film stars Stockard Channing as Susann's "gal pal" Florence Maybelle, David Hyde Pierce as book editor Michael Hastings, and John Cleese as publisher Henry Marcus. John Larroquette, Amanda Peet, Christopher McDonald, Debbie Shapiro, and Paul Benedict have supporting roles.
Camouflage is the thirteenth studio album by Rod Stewart released in 1984 by Warner Bros. Records. The four singles from the album were "Infatuation", "Trouble", a cover of the The Persuaders hit "Some Guys Have All the Luck", and a cover of the Free hit, "All Right Now". The album marked a reunion of sorts between Stewart and Jeff Beck, who plays guitar on several tracks, as the two had been members of the influential 1960s group The Jeff Beck Group.
Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990, often referred to as The Storyteller Anthology or simply Storyteller is a 4-disc compilation released by Rod Stewart in 1989 by Warner Bros. Records and contains 65 tracks, five of which had never before been released.
Human is the nineteenth studio album by Rod Stewart released on 12 March 2001. It was Stewart's first, and only release on Atlantic Records. It produced the singles "Run Back Into Your Arms", "I Can't Deny It", "Soul On Soul" and "Don't Come Around Here" with "I Can't Deny It" became a moderate hit, peaking at number 26 in the United Kingdom, Stewart's most recent Top 40 to date in that chart. The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Human was also his first album not to feature an original Stewart track. On the third track, "Don’t Come Around Here", Stewart is joined by Helicopter Girl.
If We Fall in Love Tonight is an album released by Rod Stewart on 12 November 1996. It includes mostly previously released songs. The album was released in both the US and UK, though the versions differ slightly. It was released by Warner Bros. Records, and produced the singles "If We Fall in Love Tonight" and "When I Need You".
Soulbook is the 25th studio album by Rod Stewart. Like his previous five albums, Soulbook features Stewart singing old material; for this album he sings classic material from Motown and the soul genre. It was released on 17 October 2009 and was produced by Steve Tyrell, Steven Jordan and Chuck Kentis.
Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V is the fifth title in Rod Stewart's series of covers of pop standards, released on 19 October 2010, and his 26th studio album overall. It has sold 363,000 copies as of October 2012.
"Mandolin Wind" is a song written by Rod Stewart. It was first released on Stewart's 1971 album Every Picture Tells a Story and later as the B-side of a single from that album, his version of "(I Know) I'm Losing You." Mercury Records issued the song as a 7-inch single in mid-1977. It has also appeared on numerous Rod Stewart compilation and live albums, including Sing It Again Rod, Storyteller – The Complete Anthology: 1964–1990 and Unplugged...and Seated.
Time is the twenty-eighth studio album by Rod Stewart, it was released on 3 May 2013 in the UK, on 7 May in the US and Canada, and on 8 May in Japan under the title "Time: Toki no Tabibito" (タイム~時の旅人~). In May 2013, Stewart released Time, a rock album of his own original material. It marked a return to songwriting after what Stewart termed "a dark period of twenty years"; he said that writing his autobiography gave him the impetus to write music again. The album entered the top 10 in the US and entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 1, setting a new British record for the longest gap between chart-topping albums by an artist, as his last studio album to reach the top spot was A Night on the Town in 1976. The album was certified platinum in the UK on 16 August 2013 and double-platinum on 29 December 2017. Overall, the album was the No. 7 best-selling album of 2013 in the UK. In the United States, the album has sold 141,000 copies as of September 2015.
Randy Phillips is an American music producer, former president of Anschutz Entertainment Group, and current president and CEO of LiveStyle.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)"…a man of strong imagination and unmatchable wit – affectionate but competitive – and an hour spent in his company would never be an hour lost."
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