Stephen Metz Passes

STEPHEN METZ, 70, who helped TV stars John Travolta, Scott Baio and the Partridge Family launch successful recording careers, and was one of the producers for the Broadway production of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, has passed away. His funeral will be held at the Patchogue Hebrew Cemetery(Buckley Rd, Holtsville, Long Island) tomorrow at 2 p.m. Metz started out as a Top 40 radio DJ in N.Y. before becoming a recording artist with five #1 hits in the U.K.with a group called Limmie and the Family Cookin. He also scored George A. Romero’s cult classics Night of the Living Dead and The Crazies. Metz turned N.Y.’s Beacon Theater from a movie theater into a first-class concert hall, which he ran. Metz’s RSP Music Company merged with Midsong Records, spawning disco hits like Silver Convention’s “Fly Robin Fly” and “Get Up and Boogie" as the first label to bring dance music to that level of success. He also founded the indie Bareback Records, which produced the disco classic, Sweet Cream's "I Don't Know What I'd Do (If You Ever Left Me)." After selling Midsong in the ‘80s, Metz went on to run a jazz label for Capitol/EMI called American Record Distributors. Stephen is survived by his wife Wendy and his two sons, Philip, a NASCAR Entertainment marketing and music exec, and Danny. In lieu of flowers, please send any donations to his favorite cause, Meals on Wheels. (11/19p)