Neil Bogart

In an industry known for its excess perhaps no one followed the creed of over-indulgence more than Casablanca Records head Neil Bogart. Wild stories circulate about the lavish promotional parties thrown for Casablanca's acts, and it is Bogart who is credited with the late-'70s industry push towards pure promotion regardless of the quality of the product. Yet, it is also Bogart who was saddled with a substantial amount of the blame when his parent company, Polygram, nearly went under after the post-disco crash of 1979.



Born Neil Bogartz in a poor section of Brooklyn, Bogart attended the High School of the Performing Arts (later made famous by the movie Fame) and graduated with a desire to be in show business. After a stint as a cruise ship singer, Bogart returned to New York and landed a job at an employment agency. When the music magazine Cashbox called for some applicants to fill an ad salesman position, Bogart went there himself and repeatedly nagged the magazine to hire the man they had interviewed. With his foot in the door, Bogart quickly moved through the ranks of the record industry. He took a job at MGM as a promo man, and from there moved on to Cameo-Parkway Records as vice-president and sales manager. After leaving Cameo, and at the tender age of 24, Bogart landed another high profile job, this time as the general manager of Buddah Records.

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