MASHPEE – Cyndi Lauper had been working on the song, “All Through The Night,” from her debut album, “She’s So Unusual” virtually all through the night. “There was a window in the room,” recalled Lauper. “The sun was up.”
One of the people at the studio at The Record Plant in New York City that night was Lennie Petze, the longtime record company executive who signed Lauper; the band, Boston, and many others.
Lennie Petze, A&R legend
“She was in a small room that had only a piano, a microphone, and a couch,” said Petze.’She asked, will you come sit on the couch?’ ” And Lauper sang to Petze, who was the the senior vice president of Artists and Repertoire (A&R) for Portrait Records at the time.
Lauper said she had already recorded a great version, but a technical glitch caused a thud in the editing. “I had to sing the same line over and over,” said Lauper.
Petze settled into the couch.
“He got in the room,” said Lauper, “and he said, “Come on, you can do this. He always said the opening line of a song that that you think is going to be a hit is very important.” And, Lauper recalled, Petze said that, “You know when you’re doing it right.”
The sun was up. She thought they should have been done hours ago. “He called it making it magical,” said Lauper. It finally worked with Petze in the room. Petze and the others at the studio agreed that it was magical, recalled Lauper.
“I was like, yeah, and if I had a hammer right now, I definitely would hit all of you,” said Lauper.
That song became, at one point, the number five hit in the country. “All Through The Night” would be her fourth top five hit from that album – and the only one to do so without a supporting video. In the age of video, it rose by the sound of the song. The take that was on the album was the one she made with Petze sitting on the couch.
“I don’t think I had anything to do with it,” said Petze.
But he did have something to do with making sure that the world got to hear the magic that Lauper created. “I’ve seen it actually happen,” said Petze. “I’ve seen a great vocalist in the studio. It’s something in the stars, man, I don’t know.”
Petze, 72, who lives in Mashpee, knows a few things about stars.
The Man With The Golden Ears
“He had the ability to hear hits,” said Lauper.
And Frank Rand, who works in publishing at McGhee Entertainment, which manages acts such as KISS and Ted Nugent, said of Petze, “He’s an amazingly talented A&R guy. Lennie has an ability to hear songs and / or an artist, and realize whether those songs will connect with people. That’s an amazing gift.”
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