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Steve Leber (born December 12, 1941) is an American-born record and live event producer, artist manager, and entrepreneur. While he is perhaps best known for building one of the music industry’s most successful management companies, Contemporary Communications Corporation (CCC), which master-minded and managed the careers of artists including Aerosmith, AC/DC, Ted Nugent and others, Leber’s career includes other notable achievements, such as the U.S arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, the groundbreaking Broadway sensation, Beatlemania, and the North American tour of The Great Moscow Circus.

BIOGRAPHY
Early Life

Born in Brooklyn, New York to David and Selma Leber, Steve Leber spent his earliest years surrounded by his extended Jewish family. His father was a salesman and took the family south to Virginia, before moving back to New York and settling in Woodmere, on Long Island.

Education and Early Career

After graduating from high school, Leber moved to Boston to attend Northeastern University. He was attracted to the school’s co-op program, which would allow him to work his way through school, getting practical on-the-job experience as well as a strong academic foundation. He paid for his first year using money he had earned working part-time jobs while still in high school, but quickly found ways to earn money in Boston as well.

He used jobs as a Fuller Brush salesman and photocopier salesman to cover his expenses. But his real passion was entertainment, and within a year of his arrival in Boston, he approached one of his favorite local bands, the G-Clefs, and offered to be their manager. The band agreed, and Steve Leber was soon getting them more money in better clubs.

Club owner George Pappadopoulis and promoter George Wein both became mentors of the young Steve Leber; Wein hired him to do promotion on all the Boston college campuses. During this period, Mr. Leber also organized and produced the Boston Folk Cavalcade, after which he added the folk group Brown and Dana to his roster of artists.

Mr. Leber was accepted into law school, but after his graduation from Northeastern in the fall of 1964, he decided to take an offer from the William Morris Agency instead. Unlike the vast majority of his peers, Mr. Leber never worked in the William Morris mailroom; he was hired to help build the company’s music division. By late 1965, he was officially the head of the department, the youngest member of the WMA Board, and the agent for talent including the Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, the Temptations, the Jackson Five, and Diana Ross, among others. Under Leber's management, WMA's music department revenues soared, breaking previous department records. During his tenure at Willam Morris, Leber also conceived of the then-unprecedented arena tour for the rock-musical Jesus Christ Superstar, working with Robert Stigwood to make it a commercial success. He also was approached by Beatle George Harrison, who asked him to take the lead on producing the Concert for Bangladesh, which was held at Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971; the concert would be the model for future benefit concerts, including Live Aid.

Contemporary Communications Corporation/Leber-Krebs

In 1972, Mr. Leber resigned from William Morris. He and a WMA associate, David Krebs, formed Contemporary Communications Corporation (CCC), a management company that would become a titan in the rock scene. Leber-Krebs built the careers of bands including Aerosmith, AC/DC, the Scorpions, Michael Bolton, Ted Nugent, Joan Jett, Rex Smith, Parliament Funkadelic and others. CCC was responsible for some of the best-selling and most iconic albums of the 20th century. Mr. Leber was the executive producer for Aerosmith’s first eight albums, which included the band’s debut album, Aerosmith, as well as Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic. In addition, CCC boasted double-platinum and platinum albums like AC/DC’s Back in Black, Highway to Hell, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap; Ted Nugent’s Double Live Gonzo! and Cat Scratch Fever; Joan Jett’s I Love Rock and Roll and Bad Reputation; and the Scorpions’ Love at First Sting and Blackout.

Beatlemania

In addition to producing albums and international concert tours for CCC’s bands, Steve Leber also was producing live theatrical events. Most notably, he conceived of a tribute to the Beatles that became the multi-media phenomenon Beatlemania, which opened in Boston at the Colonial Theatre in April of 1977, before moving to Broadway’s Winter Garden in May of the same year. The show had 1006 Broadway performances, and new companies were formed to tour internationally. Critics of the show did not dissuade audiences in the United States or elsewhere, and "Beatlemania" earned more $60 million worldwide, which meant handsome royalties for the Beatles. However, after releasing a film based on the show, which was not well-received, Apple Corp (representing the Beatles) sued Leber and Krebs and they were forced to stop producing the show. Texxas World Music Festival

Steve Leber also was instrumental in creating the Texxas World Music Festival, better known as the Texxas Jam. The first festival was held in 1978, at the Dallas Cotton Bowl. Though the venue changed, Texxas Jamm was an annual event until 1988. (CCC produced a video documentary of Aerosmith’s performance at the 1978 Texxas Jamm, which aired as a television special in 1989.)

Moscow Circus

In the mid-1980s, the Russian government invited Mr. Leber to visit the USSR; the Russians hoped that he would find the Russian equivalent to Aerosmith or AC/DC and introduce them to the world. While the Soviet musical acts he saw left him cold, he was impressed by the national circus, and offered to produce a North American tour. He kicked off the tour of the Moscow Circus at Radio City Music Hall in 1988. The subsequent tour broke box office records at venues across the United States and was named Family Show of the Year by Performance Magazine an unprecedented three years in a row.

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Coming Out of Their Shells'' '''

In 1990, Steve Leber conceived of a live-action show for the pop culture icons, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show itself, which was created by a talented team that included Bob Bejan, employed what was then cutting-edge technology, and was of the first truly interactive theatrical experiences. Mr. Leber worked with Pizza Hut to develop a sponsorship deal that included a live video of the show available only through Pizza Hut. The deal, which put the show in the black before it opened at Radio City Music Hall, would become an industry standard in the years that followed.

Sports

Mr. Leber produced a series of ice skating championships in Madison Square Garden, which were featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports for five years during the 1990s; he also produced tennis championships that were carried on various networks.

Broadway Shows

In addition to Beatlemania, Leber produced the play Wally’s Café (1981) starring James Coco, Rita Moreno and, in her Broadway debut, Sally Struthers, and revivals of Little Johnny Jones, (1982), which starred David Cassidy , and Little Me, (1982) featuring James Coco, Victor Garber, and a young Bebe Neuwirth. In 2019, Leber’s brainchild Rock the Planet, with music by rock pioneer Peppy Castro, opened at the Roxie Theatre in San Antonio, TX, and is expected to move in Broadway in 2021.

Other

After CCC and Leber-Krebs dissolved, artist management was no longer Steve Leber's primary focus. However. for short periods, he agreed to manage artists including Laura Branigan (circa 1998), Dionne Warwick (circa 2006), Scott Stapp (circa 2012) and the Italian boy-band, Il Volo (circa 2013).

In 2010, Leber acquired Grandparents.com, an on-line lifestyle magazine for boomers. Leber planned to create a competitor for AARP, offering exclusive deals and discounts on goods and services, including insurance, to the 1,000,000+ grandparents who used the site. Partnering with former AIG head Maurice R. Greenberg and insurance giant AETNA, however, did not save the company, which Leber left in 2015.

Mr. Leber's achievements were recognized by the New York City Parks Department in 2015, and celebrated at their annual gala.

Personal Life

Steve Leber married Marion Grieffenhagen in a civil ceremony in September of 1964, followed by a large public ceremony in February of 1965. They were married until Marion’s death from multiple myeloma on March 1, 2013; Leber was by her side to the end. The couple had three children: Michelle Leber Roberts, Jill Leber Weiss and Jordan Leber, and seven grandchildren.