He discovered Little Willie John, Johnny and the Hurricanes, and Rodriguez; co-produced Del Shannon's 1961 hit "Runaway"; established several record labels; and became head of A&R at Motown where he was particularly influential on the career of Marvin Gaye.
[1] As a young man he managed the Krim Theatre, owned by his uncle, and began running talent contests through which he discovered Little Willie John in the early 1950s.
Balk became his manager, and guided John to a successful career with such songs as "Need Your Love So Bad" and "Fever" before eventually tiring of his unreliability.
[2][3] Balk then established a business partnership with former furrier Irving Micahnik (1905–1978), and the pair set up Embee Productions (upstairs in the Carmen Theatre building at 5760 Schaefer Rd., Dearborn, MI 48126) and Twirl Records in 1959.
The band specialized in reworking out-of-copyright traditional tunes, on which Balk acquired co-writing credits under the name Tom King, with Micahnik co-credited as Ira Mack.