Al Aronowitz

Who was Al Aronowitz?

Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz was an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan to The Beatles in 1964.

Aronowitz was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. A 1950 graduate of Rutgers University, Aronowitz became a journalist in the 1950s and his work in that decade included a 12-part series on the Beat Generation for the New York Post.

Aronowitz was the original manager of The Velvet Underground, getting the band their first gig at a high school auditorium. The Velvet Underground stole Aronowitz's tape recorder and dumped him weeks later when they met Andy Warhol.

Aronowitz introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles in a New York City hotel room on August 28, 1964. According to his own journal entries, at this meeting he brought a marijuana joint which would be the first pot smoked by the Beatles.

Aronowitz also claimed that Dylan wrote the song “Mr. Tambourine Man” while staying in Aronowitz’s Berkeley Heights, New Jersey home.

He died of cancer in Elizabeth, New Jersey on August 1, 2005, at the age of 77. Aronowitz's son Myles is a photographer, often credited as the still photographer on feature film productions.