Marty Thau

Marty Thau (December 7, 1938 – February 13, 2014) was an American rock 'n' roll entrepreneur and music producer. He was best known as the founder of indie punk—new wave label Red Star Records in 1977, and for being the manager of the New York Dolls and co-producer of Suicide's classic self-titled debut album.

Thau was raised in New York City and attended New York University, 1956–1960. After spending the latter half of the 1960s as an award winning record industry executive at Cameo-Parkway and Buddah Records, he joined an independent production/publishing/management company, Inherit Productions, as one of three partners. In Thau's 12 months at Inherit the company released two classic albums by Van Morrison, Astral Weeks and Moondance, Vintage Violence by ex-Velvet Underground member John Cale, the debut album by rock power-trio Glass Harp, an album by Cass Elliot—when she switched over to RCA Records from ABC Records—and a project by bittersweet story-teller, Biff Rose. All of the above-mentioned albums were produced for Inherit by Lewis Merenstein, one of Thau's partners.

He left Inherit in 1972 to become head of A&R for Paramount Records but resigned six months later to manage the renewal of rock 'n' roll in the form of the legendary New York Dolls. The Dolls urban street attitude, gender parodying irreverence, and songs drawn from such disparate influences as early 1960s girl groups, southern soul, and 1950s rock 'n' roll inspired him to champion their cause.

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