Laurie Goldstein

Laurie Ann Goldstein was born on April 7, 1942 to parents Martin and Molly (Thaler) Goldstein. A native New Yorker, Laurie was at home in many of the boroughs of the city. She was born in Brooklyn, raised in Forest Hills, Queens, and lived for much of her life on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Growing up, her parents took her and her brother Richard to escape the city in the summers to the Catskills where she enjoyed swimming, arts & crafts, and being with friends.
She graduated from Forest Hills High School in 1959 and Hofstra University, majoring in English, in 1965. While in college, a summer job at Mercury Records altered her career direction from literature to music. After graduation, early jobs included record labels and a publishing company. At the request of a friend, she agreed to work temporarily for John Levy Enterprises. John, along with Julian (“Cannonball”) and Nat Adderley, oversaw artist management, music publishing, the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, Inc., and a record production company, Junat Productions. In addition to the Adderley brothers, John’s artist roster included Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Donny Hathaway, Freddie Hubbard, Abbey Lincoln, Letta Mbulu, Les McCann, Wes Montgomery, Stanley Turrentine, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Joe Williams and Nancy Wilson.
Laurie also worked directly with the Adderleys as well as the other John Levy artists in arranging all their varied travel schedules and other aspects of their careers as needed. The office constantly bustled from record sessions, films, TV appearances, Cannonball Adderley’s TV show, John Levy’s concert productions and the excitement of chart-topping tunes. Eventually, Laurie was asked to take over the publishing administration and, at Julian’s urging, relocated to the Los Angeles office and the fast pace continued there.
After five years in Los Angeles, Laurie returned to New York and continued to run the publishing companies on a freelance basis while also accepting a full-time position as Executive Director of the NY Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), presenter of the Grammy Awards. When the Grammys were in NY, Laurie’s work revolved around all the events and parties leading up to the show. As a non-profit organization, the chapter was also responsible for educational programs in schools and the community; seminars for members; luncheons honoring record producers; MVP Awards recognizing the contribution of background singers and sidemen; and special events that highlighted extraordinary individuals in the music community, such as Les Paul, Toots Thielemans, Milt Hinton, Zubin Mehta, Eugene Ormandy and others.
After a number of years, Laurie decided to devote herself full time to the administration of music publishing for a list of artists that had grown to include Gerry Mulligan, Nat Adderley, Jr., Earl and Wilson Turbinton, Joe Zawinul, Carl Allen, Skip Anderson, Donald Brown, Caiphus Semenya, Adela Dalto, Buddy Williams, Vincent Herring, Javon Jackson, and others. She loved her work, and she continued to do it through her last week of life.
Throughout her life, Laurie loved to travel—some of her favorite cities included Santa Fe and Amsterdam. She was also an avid theater-goer and attended as many Broadway productions as possible throughout her life—collecting enough Playbills to fill a small NYC room. She had a passionate love for tennis—always following the US Open and other tournaments.
She was a fashionista—arriving to every occasion well dressed in a unique and beautiful outfit with colorful jewelry to accompany. She was also a devoted patron of the arts. She loved the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she acquired paintings, drawings, jewelry, and sculptures both from friends and artists throughout her life and travels. Not surprisingly, her record collection—particularly of jazz records—was top-notch.
Laurie had a New Yorker’s spirit even down to her final days. She had strong views—and she shared them. Most importantly, she believed in tolerance and could not understand bigotry. For the last 25 years, she spent many of her holidays with her niece Michele and her family. She routinely came bearing gifts—wrapped in the most elegant way with multiple colors of ribbon carefully curled. She contributed to many charitable causes, often involving children and Indigenous American communities.
Laurie passed away at her home. She is predeceased by nephew Mark Goldstein and leaves behind her brother Dr. Richard Goldstein (Donna), niece Dr. Michele Meek (Geoff), nephew Robert Goldstein (Brittany), as well as Miro and Chase Meek (Michele and Geoff’s children) who will remember her for numerous reasons including taking them each to their first Broadway show. She also leaves behind numerous friends, relatives, and colleagues who love her and will never forget her.
At age 19, on January 1, 1961, Laurie wrote a “New Year’s Prayer” in her journal—it resonates still. She wrote, “I want this to be the happiest year of my life. I only hope I have the wisdom, courage, and patience to make it so. I hope I can smile when I’m under the most tension; and I can laugh when I most want to cry; and most of all that I can love when there’s reason to hate.”
Richard and Donna’s temple, Naples Jewish Congregation in Naples, Florida, will read Laurie’s name for a month for a memorial prayer.
For more photos, visit her website at https://loromusic.com/laurie-goldstein-photos/. There will be a virtual Celebration of Life in the coming weeks.
Donations on her behalf are encouraged to be made to one of her favorite charities—such as the American Indian College Fund (https://collegefund.org/) and Doctors Without Borders (https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/).