Lenny Stogel

Renowned rock & roll impresario and manager of Pop Music acts Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs and The Cowsills , who were the original inspiration for TV's The Partridge Family. He also guided the careers of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who wrote much of The Monkees material, The Royal Guardsmen and AM radio staple Tommy James & Tommy James & The Shondells. After moving to Malibu, California in the early seventies, Lenny created Malibu Record Productions, Inc. (featuring one of England's Progressive Rock pioneers Gentle Giant ). His band Sweathog (featuring Lee Michaels drummer Frosty) had a Top 40 hit with Hallelujah. He later branched out into concert promotions, creating a live attractions company Colony Concerts which was based at and named after the Malibu Colony. Colony Concerts promoted shows by Yes, Black Sabbath, and America. Arguably his greatest achievements were creating and producing two of the biggest music festivals of all time; California Jam and California Jam II (aka Cal Jam 2). Both events were held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern California in 1974 & 1978 respectively. Each drew crowds of well over 250,000 music fans. Both were televised on ABC Television in the United States, and both spawned countless bootleg recordings of headliners Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, ELP, Aerosmith, Santana and others. Cal Jam I is widely credited with catapulting Earth Wind & Fire into the international spotlight. Lenny and his partner Sanford Feldman produced other events, including Canada Jam at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, ON which aired on CTV Television in Canada. They also promoted the Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon Jump (ABC Wide World of Sports).