Mike Kappus

Mike Kappus (born May 24, 1950)[1] is an American music manager and record producer.

Mike Kappus
Born (1950-05-24) May 24, 1950
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States
GenresBlues, rhythm and blues, rock, jazz
Occupation(s)Music manager, record producer, booking agent

Kappus was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2014.[2] The Blues Foundation described Kappus as "the kind of manager and booking agent any musician would want" and "one of the most respected men in the business."[3] In addition to naming Kappus 'Manager / Agent of the Year' an unprecedented four times,[4] Kappus was chosen to induct Eric Clapton (2015), Elvin Bishop (2016), and Mavis Staples (2017) into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Biography

Mike Kappus was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States.[1] He and some of his friends at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire promoted regional bands and, in 1970 at age 19, Kappus became a licensed booking agent.[3] During this time Kappus promoted Ted Nugent at the State Theater in Eau Claire for $1,000.[5] In 1971, he joined an established agency based in Milwaukee. During the next five years, Kappus procured various musical talent for various clubs and music festivals and universities. These included booking Asleep at the Wheel, Jimmy Cliff, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, plus jazz musicians including Grover Washington, Jr., Weather Report, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and George Benson, and rock acts such as the MC5 and Styx.[3] He also established relationships with future Rosebud clients such as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Mose Allison, John Hiatt and John P. Hammond. In the early through mid-1970s, Kappus also gained further experience while curating a stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee.[5][6]

In 1976, a few months after relocation to San Francisco, California, Kappus started his own Rosebud Agency. After signing Mike Bloomfield, John Hiatt and Eddie Harris on the first day of the new business,[3] the agency grew to book about 2000 shows a year worldwide for its 30+ artists. Over the years Kappus helped launch careers for Los Lobos, Robert Cray, Ben Harper, George Thorogood & The Destroyers, John Hiatt, the Neville Brothers, and Trombone Shorty, whilst helping to raise the profile of veteran artists such as Allen Toussaint, Captain Beefheart, Muddy Waters, the Staple Singers, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Albert Collins, and John Lee Hooker.[3] Kappus represented Thorogood's "50/50" tour in 1981,[7] on which the band toured 50 U.S. states in the space of 50 days.[8] Signing with the agency in 1983, Los Lobos grew from playing Los Angeles clubs when they first joined the roster to supporting U2 and touring the world in the wake of their No. 1 single, "La Bamba",[9] from the chart-topping soundtrack album of the same name.[10] Artists with over 20 years tenure at Rosebud included John P. Hammond, who was represented by Rosebud for 37 years, Loudon Wainwright III, The Blind Boys of Alabama and The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Robert Cray (22 years), and the late John Lee Hooker (25 years). Charlie Watts was represented by Rosebud for his rare jazz performances for 17 plus years.[11]

In his role as a music manager, Kappus has worked for Hooker, Cray, Hiatt, John P. Hammond, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Duke Robillard, Loudon Wainwright III, and represented J. J. Cale for thirty years until the latter's death in 2013.[3]

Kappus' management of John Lee Hooker included executive producer duties, financing and coordinating Hooker's later comeback albums, including The Healer,[5][12] which saw Hooker win a total of four Grammy Awards.[3] Kappus and Van Morrison co-produced Hooker's Don't Look Back (1997).[13] His executive producer credits appeared on albums by Pops Staples, J. J. Cale, Robert Cray, Duke Robillard, Loudon Wainwright III, Trombone Shorty and John P. Hammond (scoring Grammy Award nominations for four consecutive projects with Hammond).[11] Kappus was also hired by Van Morrison to oversee promotion and marketing for his April 2008 album, Keep It Simple.[3] Its entry in the Billboard 200 at No. 10 marked the highest US chart position in Van Morrison's career to that point.[14] Kappus also acted as associate producer on film documentaries on both Cale and Hooker, and made an appearance in both. The former, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J. J. Cale was released in 2005.[15] He has also facilitated recording deals for Mavis Staples (Have a Little Faith (2004)), Bettye LaVette (I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (2005)),[13] Charlie Watts[16] and Buddy Guy, including that which led to Guy's Damn Right, I've Got the Blues (1991).[3]

Kappus also initiated the HART (Handy Artists Relief Trust) Fund for the Blues Foundation in 2000.[1][13] The HART Fund has gone on to thrive and attract global supporters, and has provided funds to pay for medical and funeral expenses for needy blues musicians.[1][3] In his 2002 book, Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker in the American Twentieth Century, Charles Shaar Murray noted, "I want to thank Mike Kappus, John Lee's manager, for selecting me to be the author of this book.[17] The Blues Foundation named Kappus 'Manager / Agent of the Year' four times.

As head of the Rosebud Agency, Kappus incorporated environmental policies and social responsibility issues, which saw the company offices fully converting to solar power in 2000.[3][18][19][3] Kappus' environmental concerns also drove him to coordinate two compilations for non-profit, Earthjustice, featuring artists from Tom Waits and Willie Nelson to Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Rubén Blades, Michael Franti, Ani DiFranco, Keb Mo, Ruth Brown, Lou Reed and Etta James.[11] Kappus was elected to the Board of Directors at Arhoolie Records. In addition, he has consulted for San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival,[3] as well as providing a consultant role for the Little Village Foundation.[20] The booking side of the Rosebud Agency closed in December 2013.[3] Kappus was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2014.[2] In the meantime, Rosebud is busy sorting and documenting materials from its 40-year history for archiving at the Southern Folklife Center.[21]

In addition to naming Kappus 'Manager / Agent of the Year' four times, Kappus was chosen to induct Eric Clapton in 2015, Elvin Bishop in 2016, Mavis Staples in 2017 as well as (in the same year) inducting John Lee Hooker's The Real Folk Blues album, into the Blues Hall of Fame. Highlights of the Rosebud Agency and Kappus' history were presented in a featured exhibit at the Blues Hall of Fame, which ran from May 2017 until March 2018.[22]

In 2019, Kappus was the project coordinator for J.J. Cale's posthumous album, Stay Around.[23] The same year, Kappus was the producer for Betty Reid Soskin's narrative album, A Lifetime of Being Betty (Little Village Foundation).[24] Kappus also worked as a consultant on BBC Four's 2019 televisual documentary, John Lee Hooker: The Boogie Man.[25][26][27]

Executive record production credits
Year Album title Artist
1988 Nobody But You John P. Hammond
1989 The Healer John Lee Hooker
1990 "I'm in the Mood" (single) John Lee Hooker with Bonnie Riatt
1991 Mr. Lucky John Lee Hooker
1992 Boom Boom John Lee Hooker
1992 Peace to the Neighborhood Pops Staples
1992 Got Love If You Want It John P. Hammond
1992 History Loudon Wainwright III
1993 Shame + A Sin The Robert Cray Band
1993 Career Moves Loudon Wainwright III
1993 Trouble No More ≠ John P. Hammond
1994 Temptation Duke Robillard
1995 Chill Out John Lee Hooker
1995 Grown Man Loudon Wainwright III
1997 Don't Look Back § John Lee Hooker
1996 Found True Love John P. Hammond
1997 Little Ship Loudon Wainwright III
1997 Dangerous Place Duke Robillard
1998 The Best of Friends John Lee Hooker
1998 Long You As I Have You John P. Hammond
1999 Conversations in Swing Guitar Duke Robillard
2001 Live J. J. Cale
2003 Time Will Tell Robert Cray
2003 So Damn Happy Loudon Wainwright III
2003 More Conversations in Swing Guitar Duke Robillard
2003 Face to Face John Lee Hooker
2004 To Tulsa and Back J. J. Cale
2006 To Tulsa and Back On Tour With J. J. Cale (DVD) J. J. Cale
2006 Hooker (box set) John Lee Hooker
2009 Roll On J. J. Cale
2010 Backatown Trombone Shorty

[28][29]

≠ - co-produced with J. J. Cale
§ - co-produced with Van Morrison

Associate and compilation record production credits
Year Album title Artist
1992 The Late Show John Lee Hooker and guests
1999 Heavy Picks Robert Cray
1999 Fish-Tree-Water-Blues Various artists
2000 That's My Story (DVD) John Lee Hooker
2002 The Best of Robert Cray - The Millennium Collection Robert Cray
2002 In Session At Paradise Studios Los Angeles, 1979 (DVD and CD) J. J. Cale featuring Leon Russell
2003 Where We Live Various artists

[29][30]

gollark: Anything could be None and you won't know until it is too late.
gollark: No it's not. It's like `Maybe` but can apply to any type, it's horrible.
gollark: It's uncool. Down with `None`!
gollark: It now does that and works fine.
gollark: Currently attempting to fix what's basically a thread-safety issue in the counter thing.

References
  1. "The Blues Foundation Announces 2014 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees". Americanbluesscene.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-06. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  2. "Other Individuals | The Blues Foundation". Blues.org. 2014-06-20. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  3. "The Rosebud Agency". Rosebudus.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  4. Mike Kappus, The Blues Foundation, Retrieved 2017-03-30
  5. "Executive Interview : Mike Kappus : Rosebud Agency" (PDF). Pollstarpro.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  6. "Festival Overview | Summerfest, The World's Largest Music Festival". Summerfest.com. 2016-11-21. Archived from the original on 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  7. Arar, Yardena (October 20, 1981). "Thorogood will play 50 states in 50 days". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  8. 7th Inning interview on WGN Radio, June 27, 2007
  9. "The Hot 100 - 1987 Archive | Billboard Charts Archive". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  10. "Billboard 200 - 1987 Archive | Billboard Charts Archive". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  11. "The Rosebud Agency". Rosebudus.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  12. Ted Gioia. "Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music". Books.google.co.uk. p. 267. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  13. "CelebrityAccess Industry Profiles". Celebrityaccess.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  14. "Van Morrison - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  15. "Mike Kappus". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  16. "Mike Kappus of Rosebud Music Interview". Datamusicata.com. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  17. Murray, Charles Shaar (2002). Boogie Man: The Adventures of John Lee Hooker in the American Twentieth Century. St. Martin's Griffin. pp. Acknowledgements. ISBN 978-0-312-27006-3.
  18. "Iconic Rosebud Agency To Close". Hypebot.com. 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  19. "Why Solar? (Mike Kappus, Environmentalist)". Iptv.org. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  20. "SUPPORT TEAM". Littlevillagefounation.com. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  21. "Rosebud Agency Records, circa 1987-1995". Finding-aids.lib.unc.edu. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  22. Speer, Debbie (2017-05-16). "Kappus Exhibit Unveiled At Blues HOF". PollstarPro.com. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  23. "Stay Around - J.J. Cale | Credits". AllMusic.
  24. "Betty Reid Soskin Releases New Album "A Lifetime of Being Betty"". Gratefulweb.com. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  25. "BBC Four - John Lee Hooker: The Boogie Man". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  26. "BBC Four - John Lee Hooker: The Boogie Man, John Lee Hooker's 'Boom Boom'". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  27. "The Rosebud Agency". Rosebudus.com. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  28. "Mike Kappus | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
  29. "The Rosebud Agency". Rosebudus.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  30. "John Lee Hooker and Friends (1992 TV Movie) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
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