John Levy First Black Manager Dies

John Levy, the first prominent African-American personal manager in the jazz or pop music field, whose clients included Nancy Wilson and Ramsey Lewis, has died at age 99. Devra Hall Levy posted on his website that her husband died in his sleep at his home in Altadena, California, less than three months before his 100th birthday. In 1950s, he became Shearing's full-time manager and later went on to form his own management agency, John Levy Enterprises, Inc. Levy's client roster over the years included more than 85 artists, including Wilson, Lewis, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal and Abbey Lincoln as well as comedian Arsenio Hall. In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Levy as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.