Dave Wilkes
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT • MANAGEMENT
Record



DAVE WILKES literally got his foot in the door of the music industry in the late 1960's as the Door man for the Bitter End Cafe in NYC, the center of the "Folk Music/Singer songwriter movement."

Dave soon became the manager of the bitter end & also discovered and managed such acts as Barry Manilow, Emmy Lou Harris and Jerry Jeff Walker; signing Jerry to ATLANTIC/ATCO and immediately having a top 20 pop hit with Jerry Jeff's song "Mister Bo Jangles."

He was Vice President of A&R (Artists & Repertoire) at Koch Records (now known as E1 Music), whose roster included Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Chris Brubeck, numerous country and hip-hop artists and contemporary jazz greats that Wilkes signed to the label. He later worked as a publisher for MCA Music and Sire Records and became President of A&R with Vanguard Records, whose roster included Joan Baez, Buffy St. Marie and Kinky Friedman.

In the mid 70s, Wilkes started his own management, publishing and production company and purchased The Coffee House Circuit which he had originally helped to set up while at The Bitter End Café. The Coffee House Circuit booked acts such as Harris, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, John Denver and many other artists through a joint venture with the NEC (later NACA). His later endeavors included working at Mercury Records as VP of A&R and creating a joint label deal with Koch and Shanachie/Cache Records. Go


Dave Wilkes
 
 

Dave is mentioned in the book FOLK CITY
written by Stephen Petrus and Ronald D. Cohen.

David Wilkes has been an integral figure in New York's folk scene for six decades;as manager of the Bitter End; a music publisher of popular songs; and executive producer of many recordings; a manager or co-manager of many artists, such as Emmylou Harris, Jerry Jeff Walker, Richie Havens, Barry Manilow, Tom Paxton, Josh White Jr,.and Heather Pierson and a Vice President of A&R for Vanguard Records, a folk label that helped launch the careers of many folk luminaries in the 1950's and 1960's;

He is still active as a manager, agent, and recorder of folk artists, a consultant to the Canadian folk music industry, and the US representative to the popular folk world music group, Sultans of String.