Sally Ann Grossman (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
Buehler; August 22, 1939March 11, 2021)
was an American model and the wife of
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 ...
's one-time manager,
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and ...
. According to some Dylan biographers, she introduced Dylan to his first wife
Sara (although this claim is disputed by Dylan's stepson, Peter Lownds). She operated the
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
-based
Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and N ...
following the death of her husband in 1986.
Early life
Grossman was born Sally Ann Buehler in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...
on August 22, 1939. Her father worked as an
actuary; her mother was the executive director of the Boys Club.
She attended
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private university in Garden City, New York. Adelphi also has centers in Manhattan, Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County. There is also a virtual, online campus for remote students. It is the oldest institution of higher edu ...
and
Hunter College
Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...
, but became more interested in the
folk music scene in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
. She consequently
dropped out
Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.
Canada
In Canada, most ind ...
of school to work as a
waitress
Waiting staff (British English), waitstaff (North American English), waiters (male) / waitresses (female), or servers (North American English), are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a bar and sometimes in private homes, attendin ...
in establishments such as
Cafe Wha?
Cafe Wha? is a music club at the corner of MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The club is important in the history of rock and folk music, having presented numerous musicians and ...
and
The Bitter End
The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub, coffeehouse and folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to ''The O ...
.
''Bringing It All Back Home''
Sally is best known as the young woman languorously stretched out on the cover of Dylan's 1965 album ''
Bringing It All Back Home
''Bringing It All Back Home'' (known as ''Subterranean Homesick Blues'' in some European countries; sometimes also spelled ''Bringin' It All Back Home'') is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in Apri ...
''. She also appeared briefly in the
D.A. Pennebaker documentary, ''
Dont Look Back
'' Look Back'' is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.
In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library o ...
'', which covered Dylan's
1965 concert tour in England. The album photograph came about after Dylan spent the summer writing and recording at the Grossmans' home. Grossman stated in a 1996 interview that she took part because "I was around, and Bob just asked me to do it".
The photograph was taken by
Daniel Kramer Daniel Kramer (born January 15, 1977) is an American-born theatre, opera and dance director. He was appointed Artistic Director of the English National Opera in April 2016.
Early life and education
Kramer was born on a sheep farm in Wadsworth, Ohio ...
in the
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
, New York, home. The
chaise longue
A chaise longue (; , "long chair") is an upholstered sofa in the shape of a chair that is long enough to support the legs of the sitter.
In modern French the term ''chaise longue'' can refer to any long reclining chair such as a deckchair ...
in the photograph was a wedding gift to the Grossmans from
Mary Travers
Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burge ...
of
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's repe ...
. As for the red jersey dress, Grossman said, "I don't think I've worn it again." Grossman said, "It's amazing to be on an album cover that people remember 30 years later."
Career
In 1971, Grossman provided a voiceover to the documentary film ''Luxman Baul's Movie'', a documentary about two Bengali musicians (
Baul
The Baul ( bn, বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism, Vaishnavism and Tantra from Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls c ...
s) which was financed by her husband; Sally Grossman was also credited as
producer.
After the death of her husband
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
in 1986, Grossman took over the management of
Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and N ...
, the record company he founded in 1970, as well as the two restaurants they had established together.
[ She was also responsible for refurbishing his barn and transforming it into Bearsville Theater, thus realizing a dream of her late husband.][ Grossman recounted that she was compelled to carry out the renovation sooner than she had anticipated due to amendments to the municipal zoning bylaw that would have prevented her from starting a music venue.][ The theater opened in 1989; she eventually sold it and the other businesses in 2004.][ She was noted for being an "imposing businessperson" while eschewing media publicity.][ Towards her final years, she worked on a documentary about Albert Grossman.][
]
Personal life
Grossman married Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman (May 21, 1926 – January 25, 1986) was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music and rock and roll scene. He was famous as the manager of many of the most popular and successful performers of folk and ...
in 1964. They met while he was organizing folk music acts that performed at the establishments where she was waitressing. They moved to Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 200 ...
, and remained married until his death in 1986.
Grossman died on the night of March 10–11, 2021, at her home in the Bearsville Bearsville may refer to:
* Bearsville, New York, a hamlet in Ulster County, New York
* Bearsville Records, an American record label active from 1970 to 1984
* Bearsville Studios
Bearsville Sound Studio was a recording studio founded by Albert Gr ...
area of Woodstock. She was 81; the cause of death has not yet been determined.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Sally
American music people
American women in business
Businesspeople from New York (state)
1939 births
2021 deaths
People from Woodstock, New York
21st-century American women