Herb Cohen dies at 77

Herb Cohen died at the age of 77 on Tuesday, according to Variety.

Cohen was Tom Waits' manager in the early stage of Waits' carreer and helped him sign a record deal with Geffen Records in 1972. Later on, Waits sued Cohen's publishing firm over songs of his that were used in commercials.

Cohen himself sued writer Barney Hoskyns and publisher Random House for libel. According to Cohen, the claims he 'nicked a lot of money' from Tom Waits and similar allegations in Hoskyns' biography Lowside of the Road, A Life of Tom Waits are false and defamatory.

Interesting reading on the subject can be found over at the TW Library's Who's who and Copyright sections.

Herb Cohen also features in the background of the cover for Nighthawks At The Diner (Photography by Norman Seeff)

(thanks to Stefan  for pointing this out)

UPDATE (March 29): Wall Street Journal obituary