Danny Fields

Danny Fields (born Daniel Feinberg; November 13, 1939) is an American music manager, publicist, journalist and author. As a music industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the history of punk rock. He signed and managed Iggy and the Stooges, signed the MC5 and managed the Ramones, and worked in various roles with Jim Morrison, the Velvet Underground and the Modern Lovers. In 2014 The New York Times said, "You could make a convincing case that without Danny Fields, punk rock would not have happened."

Fields grew up in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania in 1959, he attended Harvard Law School, but left during his first year. He moved to Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960, briefly enrolled at New York University, and became involved with the burgeoning downtown arts and music scene.

After brushes at bizarre entities such as Liquor Store and Outdoor Advertiser Magazines, Fields found himself in the teen-fan world of Datebook Magazine. In 1966, as Managing Editor, Danny was responsible for shining a spotlight on John Lennon's cataclysmic “more popular than Jesus” quote, which sent a shock-wave through the American Bible Belt, where bonfires and death threats contributed to the Beatles decision to stop performing live at the height of their career.

In the 1960s, Fields began frequenting Max's Kansas City. It was there that he developed connections to Andy Warhol's Factory social circle. Fields occasionally shared his loft with Warhol actress Edie Sedgwick, and wrote an account of the Warhol-sponsored Velvet Underground during their early years. He later penned the liner notes for the band's historic Live At Max's Kansas City album, recorded in 1970, but released in 1972, after the band broke up. Fields was one of the first people in the music business to be openly gay, at a time when most were closeted.

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