Lee Solters (born Nathan Cohen, June 23, 1919 – May 18, 2009) was an American press agent who used his flamboyant style to represent celebrities from stage, movies and sports including 26 years with Frank Sinatra.
[1] After leaving military service, he went into the public relations business with his own company in 1948, achieving early success with stories about clients planted in the columns of Army Archerd, Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell.
[5] Solters worked on promotion of some 300 plays and musicals, such as the original Broadway theatre productions of Camelot, Funny Girl, Guys and Dolls, The King and I and My Fair Lady.
When one of David Merrick's plays was struggling to get audiences, Solters placed ads that featured quotes from people whose names had been selected out of the phone book because they matched those of noted theater reviewers.
[10] His efforts led to Pope John Paul II being named in 2000 as an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters in a ceremony orchestrated in front of a crowd of 50,000 in Saint Peter's Square.
[5] In an account related to The New York Times in 2004, Danny Goldberg, later founder of Artemis Records, led the article by recounting that "One of my big influences was Lee Solters".
Later, as the only person on the company who had ever listened to the group, Solters assigned Goldberg to represent Led Zeppelin, which gave him the contacts and persona he needed to succeed in the rock business.