Legendary Agent Norby Walters Dies At 91

Legendary agent Norby Walters was immortalized in 1987’s “Paid in Full,” the acclaimed title-track of the debut studio album by hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, with the lyrics: “Yo Rakim, what’s up? / Yo, I’m doing the knowledge, E., man I’m tryin’a get paid in full / Well, check this out, since Norby Walters is our agency, right? / True / Cara Lewis is our agent / Word up / Zakia and 4th and Broadway is our record company / Indeed / Okay, so who we rollin’ with then? / We rollin’ with Rush Of Rushtown Management / So check this out. Since we talkin’ over this def beat right here that I put together / I wanna hear some of them def rhymes / You know what I’m sayin’? / And together, we can get paid in full.”

Walters died in his sleep of natural causes on Dec. 10 in Burbank, California. He was 91. One of the major highlights from Walters’ impactful career was his role in ensuring that the hip-hop pioneers he once represented were properly paid when the genre first burst onto the live scene.

“He was a great guy and had a hell of a career; he was a great father and a great mentor,” Richard Walters, the president of Smash Music Inc. and one of Norby’s three sons, tells Pollstar. “He was very artist-centric. He treated the urban artists like they were rock stars. At the time, the urban artists were being treated very unfairly. He took the position that they should get paid the way the rock artists were being paid – they would get guarantees and a percentage of the box office.”

In one of his last public appearances Norby appeared at the February 2023 Pollstar Live! conference in Beverly Hills as a surprise guest on the special keynote conversation “Throw Your Hands In The Air: 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” which featured seminal artists in the genre including Doug E. Fresh, Big Daddy Kane and DJ Quik, along with Lionel Bea of the Black Promoters Collective and Darryll Brooks of C D Enterprises Inc.

Norby reminisced about the challenge of getting venue operators to book hip-hop shows and also made sure to give panelist Brooks a shout out.

“[Venue operators] were afraid of it, thinking that anything could happen, but, of course, nothing ever did happen,” Norby told the audience. “We had a lot of sellout shows that Darryll [Brooks] and Carol [Kirkendall] produced for us. We had the talent, and they had the street hustle to get out there and make it all happen. I was very proud to represent Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, and dozens of other great, talented groups. But it took people like Carol and Darryll to bring ’em out to the public, so I want to thank them publicly here for doing that, because I think that they [were instrumental] in bringing hip-hop to where it is today.”

During the panel Doug E. Fresh pointed to Norby, saying, “This guy taught me something, which is at the foundation of my career. I’d come into the agency every time and say, ‘Norby, how you doing?’ And he’d say, ‘Hey Doug E. Never too big.’ …. One day I asked him, ‘Norby, can I ask you a question? Why do you say ‘Never too big?’ He said, ’cause I’m never too big to say hello to everyone. I’m never too big to help somebody. I’m never too big to do something for somebody else, and I don’t have to get anything for it. I’m just, ‘Never too big.’ And that has been the foundation of my career.”

Norby got his start in live entertainment in the early 1950s by booking jazz icons including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis into the New York bar his father owned, Soldier Myer’s, which he renamed the Brooklyn Bop Shop. He owned a number of pizzerias, restaurants and nightclubs in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan including the Latin jazz club Flamboyant, which booked artists such as Tito Puente, and the Norby Walters supper club next door to the famous Copacabana.

After leaving the club business in 1968, Norby started a music agency called Norby Walters Associates, later known as General Talent International. The agency eventually boasted hundreds of acts.

Over the years, his roster of disco, funk, R&B, soul, and rap artists included clients such as Marvin Gaye, Patti LaBelle, Rick James, The Gap Band, Kool and the Gang, the Four Tops, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Doug E. Fresh, Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Public Enemy, N.W.A, LL Cool J and, for a short time, Michael Jackson.

Richard explains that his father met Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons because they both lived in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, New York, home to a lot of the hip-hop acts, including Simmons’ brother’s group, Run-D.M.C. and working with Simmons became the catalyst for representing hip-hop clients.

One stand-out booking was having Kurtis Blow open up for The Commodores, along with Bob Marley & the Wailers, at New York’s Madison Square Garden in September 1980 – marking one of Marley’s final shows.

“Benny Ashburn, the manager of The Commodores, couldn’t understand how an artist could perform without a band – just with a microphone and a turntable,” Richard recalls.

Norby retired in 1987 in Los Angeles and was able to focus on what he called “The Three P’s,” Poker, Parties and Palm Springs, including hosting his annual Oscar Night Gala he dubbed “Night of 100 Stars” and his weekly all-actors poker game at his West Hollywood condo.

Reflecting on his father’s career, Richard notes, “One of the things he was most proud of was the accomplishments of the people that came up under his agency and went on to be extremely successful in the concert touring business.

“He always had great pride in that. He was so happy for their success,” Richard added, referring to agents including Jeff Frasco (who is now an agent with CAA), Cara Lewis (founder and CEO of Cara Lewis Group), Jonny Podell (founder of Podell Talent Agency), Sal Michaels (founder and CEO of Pyramid Entertainment Group) and David Zedeck (partner and global co-head of music at UTA).

Norby, who served as a medic during the Korean War, was buried with military honors at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles and laid to rest next to his childhood sweetheart Irene, to whom he was married for 70 years. Irene died last July at the age of 89. Norby is survived by his sons Steven, Richard and Gary Michael.

Said Gary Michael, “Dad always gave me the same two great pieces of advice: Say it straight; and stay with it. Persistence and integrity were Norby’s foundation for success. He was a wonderfully kind, warm and funny man who was ‘Never Too Big’ to give you his time and attention. My heart is broken to lose him.”

Look out for tributes to Norby Walters in next week’s issue of Pollstar.