One Helluva Heavy Half-Century
• After a remarkable 50-year run of promoting great artists and their music (and thoughtfully sending out thousands of birthday and anniversary cards), promo legend “Heavy Lenny” Bronstein announced that he has decided to hang up the phone and enjoy life’s next chapter. “Music has driven me forever and I was fortunate to open many doors and be invited in,” Bronstein said. “I bought my first record at four years old and amassed over 90,000 albums, 75,000 singles and 50,000 CDs before I moved to Vegas.”
Growing up in New York as a fan of the legendary WMCA “Good Guys,” Lenny used to sit in on the hotline with Dandy Dan during the Tuesday countdowns, providing him with interesting and obscure chart facts, earning the nickname “The Good Guy Music Maven.” Along the way, he met many of New York’s promotion community. Later, while attending Brooklyn College, Bronstein co-founded the student-run radio station, WBCR, which launched Nov. 2, 1968. “We were treated royally by the record industry and I actually was the first person in the world to play ‘Get Back’ by The Beatles,” Bronstein said. “I also premiered ‘Layla’ and so many other ‘firsts and exclusives.'” At the time, most college radio stations weren’t being serviced with records, so Bronstein and Gary Cohen at Yeshiva University helped convince labels to start dedicated college radio promotion departments. “When A&M Records started theirs, Lance Freed hired me in 1970,” said Bronstein, who spent the next decade working with A&M’s historic roster, while also innovating the concept of monthly sampler cassettes of upcoming releases, which quickly became the norm for other labels.
In 1980 he left to start Heavy Lenny Promotions, working with Joan Jett, Big Country, Joe Satriani, Loverboy, Collective Soul, Billy Idol, Robert Palmer, Pat Benatar, Night Ranger, Eurythmics, Richard Marx, Warrant, Huey Lewis & The News and many more. “I also helped resurrect radio airplay for Bob Dylan, Kiss, Robin Trower and Bad Company, and I’m especially proud of spending the first ten years of U2‘s career along with Bruce Moser, being their champion,” he said.
In 1990, Bronstein helped launch Charisma Records in the U.S. before resuming his independent career three years later. Bronstein said, “I was fortunate to have thousands of stories and nearly 2000 artists I helped. But now, the industry & practices have changed. Promotion was always about communication & relationships, friendships and bold ideas, creating excitement about the artists and their music. Even before the pandemic, the climate changed and communication withered. Instead of one-to-one dialogue, an eblast is considered brilliance. I’ll miss the interaction but am thrilled at all the friendships I made and still will maintain.” Your best wishes can be sent to Lenny at heavylenny90405@yahoo.com.
