Danny Goldberg

Eight managers, who have guided the careers of everyone from Nirvana to Robert Goulet, have been named as 2023 inductees to the Personal Managers Hall of Fame. Two of the managers, George Shapiro and Shirley Grant, are being honored posthumously.

The 2023 inductees will join 50 current Hall of Fame members, which include Sid Bernstein, Bernie Brillstein, Brian Epstein, Ken Kragen, Doc McGhee, Patricia McQueeney, Dolores Robinson, Jack Rollins and David Sonenberg.

“The Personal Managers Hall of Fame celebrates illustrious careers in entertainment, music, sports and talent management,” Clinton Ford Billups Jr., national president of the sponsoring National Conference of Personal Managers (NCOPM), said in a statement. “The 2023 inductees reflect the contributions, ethics and history of personal management that the Hall of Fame acknowledges and honors.”

Nominations are solicited nationwide from the personal management community. Inductees are selected by the national board of officers of the National Conference of Personal Managers, the nation’s oldest trade association committed to the advancement of personal managers and their clients.

The 2023 Personal Managers Hall of Fame red carpet reception and induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 25 at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

More information and tickets for the Personal Managers Hall of Fame is available at www.PersonalManagersHallofFame.org.

Here’s the full list of 2023 inductees to the Personal Managers Hall of Fame.

Phil Brock – CEO of Studio Talent Group, which for more than 25 years has represented actors for commercials, film, television and theatre, including Richard Moll, Mary Woronov and Emmy winner Pat Harrington Jr. (One Day at a Time). Brock was elected in 2020 as a member of the Santa Monica (Calif.) City Council.

Chris DiPetta – Veteran talent manager, television producer and owner of Atlanta comedy club The Punchline. For more than three decades, Chris DiPetta has managed the career of Billy Gardell, actor, comedian and star of the CBS sitcoms Mike and Molly and Bob Hearts Abishola.

Danny Goldberg – Has worked in the music business as a personal manager, record company president, publicist and journalist since the late 1960s.  His current management clients include The Waterboys and Martha Wainwright and three-time Grammy winner Steve Earle. 

Vera Goulet – For more than three decades, managed the career of her late husband Robert Goulet, who won a Grammy as best new artist of 1962 and a Tony for best actor in a musical in 1968 for The Happy Time. The singer/actor died in 2007.

Shirley Grant – During a career spanning more than four decades, guided the careers of Jonas Brothers, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Christina Ricci, Allison Smith and JD Roth, as well as Broadway stars Alex Boniello and Michael Lee Brown. Grant died in 2020. (Posthumous inductee)

Susan Joseph – A personal manager, concert promoter and branding consultant. Her clients have included songwriter Diane Warren, actress Nell Carter, singer Laura Branigan and actress Pia Zadora.

George Shapiro – A champion of comedy who guided the careers of Carl Reiner, Andy Kaufman, Peter Bonerz, Marty Feldman, Gabe Kaplan, Robert Wuhl, Bill Persky & Sam Denoff, Austin & Irma Kalish, and Norman Barasch. Shapiro died in 2022 at age 91. (Posthumous inductee)

David Spero – A music manager who has overseen the careers of Bad Company, Dickey Betts, Petula Clark, Billy Bob Thornton, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Survivor, Don Felder, Patty Smyth, Joe Walsh and many others. Spero is also a 1970s rock-radio pioneer and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board of directors.