n***@earthlink.net
2011-08-25 00:14:57 UTC
Frank Dileo, the stout, cigar-smoking former bookie who was Michael
Jackson’s personal manager during much of his 1980s career peak, died
on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. He was 63.
.The cause was complications from heart surgery in March, said his
wife, Linda.
Mr. Dileo was one of a handful of advisers who shepherded Jackson
through world tours, endorsement deals and a visit to the White House.
Yet at 5 feet 2 inches tall and more than 200 pounds, his hair in a
slick ponytail and rings on his pinkies, he cut an unlikely figure
next to the Peter Pan-like Jackson.
“You couldn’t find two more different people,” Mr. Dileo once said.
“He won’t eat meat; I’ll run out to get a cheeseburger. I’ll take a
drink; he won’t touch the stuff.” He added: “Just look at us — he’s
skinny, I’m fat. If we stand next to each other, we look like the
number 10.”
From 1979 until Jackson hired him as manager in 1984, Mr. Dileo was
vice president for promotion at Epic Records, working with acts like
Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper and Quiet Riot. Jackson, who also recorded
for Epic, credited Mr. Dileo with the radio campaign that helped make
the “Thriller” album a worldwide success.
Released in late 1982, “Thriller” has sold well over 50 million
copies, according to most estimates, making it the biggest-selling
album ever.
Frank Michael Dileo was born in Pittsburgh on Oct. 23, 1947, and got
his start in the music business stocking store shelves with new
records. In the late 1960s and ’70s he worked in promotion for record
companies in Cleveland, Nashville and New York, pitching songs to
radio stations.
He had run-ins with the law. Twice in the late ’70s he was convicted
of taking bets on college basketball games. At Epic he supported the
use of independent promoters, a system of middlemen between labels and
radio stations that was investigated by the federal authorities in the
1980s for payola and links to organized crime.
Mr. Dileo, who was not charged, defended the practice, which continues
today.
“There’s not anything dishonest going on,” Mr. Dileo said of
independent promotion in “Hit Men,” Fredric Dannen’s 1990 book about
corruption in the music industry. “Organized crime?” he added. “There
ain’t been organized crime since Capone died.”
As Jackson’s manager, he helped negotiate a 1986 endorsement contract
with Pepsi that was reported to be worth more than $10 million. In
those days Mr. Dileo drove a black Rolls-Royce, a gift from his
employer, with the license plate “THANXMJJ.”
But in early 1989 Jackson fired Mr. Dileo, dissatisfied with the sales
of his album “Bad.” (Jackson had wanted to sell 100 million copies of
the album, but after a year and a half it had sold only 20 million.)
Mr. Dileo soon got a phone call from Martin Scorsese, who had directed
the video for Jackson’s song “Bad,” offering a small role as a Mafioso
in his next picture, “GoodFellas.” Mr. Dileo played Tuddy Cicero, who
kills Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy. He also appeared with Mike Myers
and Dana Carvey in the movies “Wayne’s World” and “Wayne’s World 2,”
playing a flashy record executive.
In the 1990s Mr. Dileo continued his career as an artist manager,
working with Taylor Dayne, Jodeci and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. In
2007 he was named chief executive of ValCom, a film, television and
theatrical production company.
Mr. Dileo was reunited with Jackson in 2009 as the singer prepared for
a run of comeback concerts in London. He signed on as manager again
about a month before Jackson died of an overdose of sedatives on June
25 that year; at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center that day, Mr. Dileo
informed Jackson’s children that their father had died.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, Dominic; a daughter,
Belinda; a sister, Rose Marie; and a grandson.
Throughout their time together, Jackson and Mr. Dileo played up their
odd-couple image. On the record sleeve for “Bad,” released in 1987,
was a picture of the men facing each other in silhouette, a cigar
hanging from Mr. Dileo’s mouth. The caption: “Another great team.”
See also Sheryl Crow's "The Na Na Song" and by inference "What I Can
Do For You"
Jackson’s personal manager during much of his 1980s career peak, died
on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. He was 63.
.The cause was complications from heart surgery in March, said his
wife, Linda.
Mr. Dileo was one of a handful of advisers who shepherded Jackson
through world tours, endorsement deals and a visit to the White House.
Yet at 5 feet 2 inches tall and more than 200 pounds, his hair in a
slick ponytail and rings on his pinkies, he cut an unlikely figure
next to the Peter Pan-like Jackson.
“You couldn’t find two more different people,” Mr. Dileo once said.
“He won’t eat meat; I’ll run out to get a cheeseburger. I’ll take a
drink; he won’t touch the stuff.” He added: “Just look at us — he’s
skinny, I’m fat. If we stand next to each other, we look like the
number 10.”
From 1979 until Jackson hired him as manager in 1984, Mr. Dileo was
vice president for promotion at Epic Records, working with acts like
Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper and Quiet Riot. Jackson, who also recorded
for Epic, credited Mr. Dileo with the radio campaign that helped make
the “Thriller” album a worldwide success.
Released in late 1982, “Thriller” has sold well over 50 million
copies, according to most estimates, making it the biggest-selling
album ever.
Frank Michael Dileo was born in Pittsburgh on Oct. 23, 1947, and got
his start in the music business stocking store shelves with new
records. In the late 1960s and ’70s he worked in promotion for record
companies in Cleveland, Nashville and New York, pitching songs to
radio stations.
He had run-ins with the law. Twice in the late ’70s he was convicted
of taking bets on college basketball games. At Epic he supported the
use of independent promoters, a system of middlemen between labels and
radio stations that was investigated by the federal authorities in the
1980s for payola and links to organized crime.
Mr. Dileo, who was not charged, defended the practice, which continues
today.
“There’s not anything dishonest going on,” Mr. Dileo said of
independent promotion in “Hit Men,” Fredric Dannen’s 1990 book about
corruption in the music industry. “Organized crime?” he added. “There
ain’t been organized crime since Capone died.”
As Jackson’s manager, he helped negotiate a 1986 endorsement contract
with Pepsi that was reported to be worth more than $10 million. In
those days Mr. Dileo drove a black Rolls-Royce, a gift from his
employer, with the license plate “THANXMJJ.”
But in early 1989 Jackson fired Mr. Dileo, dissatisfied with the sales
of his album “Bad.” (Jackson had wanted to sell 100 million copies of
the album, but after a year and a half it had sold only 20 million.)
Mr. Dileo soon got a phone call from Martin Scorsese, who had directed
the video for Jackson’s song “Bad,” offering a small role as a Mafioso
in his next picture, “GoodFellas.” Mr. Dileo played Tuddy Cicero, who
kills Joe Pesci’s character, Tommy. He also appeared with Mike Myers
and Dana Carvey in the movies “Wayne’s World” and “Wayne’s World 2,”
playing a flashy record executive.
In the 1990s Mr. Dileo continued his career as an artist manager,
working with Taylor Dayne, Jodeci and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. In
2007 he was named chief executive of ValCom, a film, television and
theatrical production company.
Mr. Dileo was reunited with Jackson in 2009 as the singer prepared for
a run of comeback concerts in London. He signed on as manager again
about a month before Jackson died of an overdose of sedatives on June
25 that year; at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center that day, Mr. Dileo
informed Jackson’s children that their father had died.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a son, Dominic; a daughter,
Belinda; a sister, Rose Marie; and a grandson.
Throughout their time together, Jackson and Mr. Dileo played up their
odd-couple image. On the record sleeve for “Bad,” released in 1987,
was a picture of the men facing each other in silhouette, a cigar
hanging from Mr. Dileo’s mouth. The caption: “Another great team.”
See also Sheryl Crow's "The Na Na Song" and by inference "What I Can
Do For You"