Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz (May 20, 1928 – August 1, 2005) was an American rock journalist best known for introducing

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

in 1964.

Early life and education

Aronowitz was born in

Bordentown, New Jersey Bordentown is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 3,924.Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

in 1950.Sisario, Ben
"Al Aronowitz, 77, a Pioneer Of Rock 'n' Roll Journalism"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 4, 2005. Accessed February 27, 2011.
archived
on May 29, 2015.

Career

He worked for various New Jersey newspapers in the 1950s before moving to the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', where in 1959 he wrote a 12-part series on the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Genera ...

, in the process becoming friends with

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

and

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...

.Mulvihill, Geoff, Associated Press
"Al Aronowitz, at 77; pioneer in rock 'n' roll journalism"
''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', August 2, 2005. Accessed April 16, 2022. In the early 1960s he wrote for the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

''; while covering the Beatles, he introduced them and Bob Dylan in a New York City hotel room on August 28, 1964. According to his own journal entries, at this meeting he also introduced the Beatles to marijuana. Aronowitz also claimed that Dylan wrote the song " Mr. Tambourine Man" while staying in Aronowitz's

Berkeley Heights, New Jersey Berkeley Heights is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. A commuter town in northern-central New Jersey, the township is nestled within the Raritan Valley region in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United State ...

home. Aronowitz was the original manager of

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

, getting the band their first gig in the auditorium of the high school in

Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern-central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United State ...

. The Velvet Underground stole Aronowitz's tape recorder and dumped him weeks later when they met

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. Beginning in the later 1960s, Aronowitz wrote the ''Pop Scene'' column for the ''New York Post''; he was fired in 1972 for

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

because of his management of bands.

Publications

Aronowitz self-published two books, ''Bob Dylan and the Beatles'' and ''Bobby Darin Was a Friend of Mine''; ''Mick and Miles'', on

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

and

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

, was not completed. He maintained the website ''The Blacklisted Journalist''.

Personal life and death

Aronowitz's wife, Ann, died in 1972. He had two sons and a daughter. His son Myles is a photographer who often works as still photographer on feature film productions; his daughter, Brett, is a graphic designer, writer and illustrator. He died of cancer in

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

on August 1, 2005, at the age of 77.

References

External links

''The Blacklisted Journalist''''The Blacklisted Journalist''
archived on February 11, 2005
"The Go-Between"
by Mike Miliard, ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' a ...

'', December 3, 2004
"The Rock Journalist At a High Point In Music History"
by David Segal, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', August 3, 2005
Al Aronowitz on the Poets' Corner.
by

Gary Pig Gold Gary Pig Gold (born May 30, 1955 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, author and journalist. His fanzine ''The Pig Paper'' was Canada's second independently published music magazine, and among the recordi ...

, ''Cosmik Debris'', October 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Aronowitz, Al American music journalists 1928 births 2005 deaths Deaths from cancer in New Jersey People from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey People from Bordentown, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Bob Dylan The Beatles