SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — Very few people get the honor of having a documentary film made of their life. Cleveland rock and roll legend David Spero can now count himself among those people.
Though not a performer, Spero has seemingly done everything else in the music business while meeting and working with a good deal of the most famous names in rock ‘n’ roll history.
The film about Spero’s rocking life, “The Heart of Rock and Roll, A Cleveland Rocks Story,” by Patrick Donovan, will be shown twice as part of the 16th Annual Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, taking place Oct. 7-12 in and around Chagrin Falls.
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 9), and 4 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 11) at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, 40 River St. in Chagrin Falls.
Asked about how it felt to see his story on a big screen, Spero said, “I certainly don’t feel worthy of it, that’s for sure. It was so much fun to watch.
“The first time I saw it I thought, ‘Wow, that guy’s pretty lucky.’”
And why wouldn’t he feel lucky? In 1964, as Beatlemania and the pop/rock youth culture took center stage in America and the world, Spero’s father, the late Herman Spero, began producing the local “Upbeat” syndicated television show.
Cleveland’s answer to “American Bandstand,” “Upbeat” featured musical performances from rock ‘n’ roll music’s biggest names, emanating from the studio of Channel 5 on Euclid Avenue.
At age 13, Spero started work on the show writing and holding cue cards. As a teen who kept tabs on what was happening in the music world, Spero later became the show’s associate producer, and would write questions to be asked of performers by host Don Webster.
Spero worked on the show until its final airing in 1971.
From there, he became a disc jockey at WNCR, then WXEN, and finally, in 1971 and ‘72, for the upstart WMMS, which became as the 70s unfolded, the heart of rock ‘n’ roll in Cleveland.
Later, gaining the James Gang’s (and then Eagles’) guitarist Joe Walsh as a client, the door was opened for Spero to manage others, including the Allman Bros.’ Dickey Betts; Ian Hunter; the band Survivor; Richie Furay; Billy Bob Thornton; Patty Smythe; Ricky Nelson’s, sons Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, known as Nelson; and Ted Neeley of “Jesus Christ Superstar” fame.
But, getting back to the question of why Spero feels so lucky, here are just a few of dozens of answers to the question:
— “Growing up, when I was 5-6 years old, my dad would have Bob Hope over, or Henny Youngman over (to the Spero house in Shaker Heights),” Spero said. “He was working with these guys all the time back then.”
Of hope, who grew up in Cleveland, Spero said, “Him and his wife, Dolores, would babysit my brother and I so my parents could go out to dinner and grab a movie.”
— While working at “Upbeat,” one of Spero’s duties was to pick up music stars from Burke Lakefront Aiport and bring them to the Channel 5 studio.
“There’s a story where James Brown, he was doing ‘Upbeat,’ and I’d gone over to pick him up at Burke and he had just got a new Lear jet. And he’s like, ‘C’mon little Herman’ — he used to call me little Herman — we’ll take a ride (in the jet). And I said, ‘No. My dad said I have to bring you right back.’ He said, ‘I’ll take care of your dad.’
“We got in the plane, flew over Lake Erie to Detroit and back in about, you know, 10 minutes, probably.”
The film includes anmated segments used when there isn’t footage to document an occurrence. The flight with Brown is one such animated segment. “That segment is so funny,” Spero said of the work done by an animator from TV’s “Family Guy.”
— In 2009, when Spero was managing Cat Stevens, aka Yusuf Islam, Stevens was working on his album “Roadsinger.”
“He (Stevens) thought it would be cool if Paul came in and sang on a track, and I tracked (McCartney) down and he actually said yes, which was kind of surprising. And we were in London and I spent the day with him in the studio.”
— In the 1980s, when Cleveland rocker Michael Stanley and his band were selling out Blossom Music Center, Stanley once called Spero out on stage, introducing him as the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia.
Spero, with a guitar in hand, joined the band on a number. With a little touch up to his appearance, the crowd believed Spero was Garcia, and was never told differently.
It wasn’t the first time Spero was thought to be Garcia.
“It actually started on the Walsh-Frey (Glenn Frey, of the Eagles) tour,” Spero recalled, “where me and Joe and Glenn were having dinner once and some kid stopped and said, ‘Oh my God, it’s Joe Walsh and Jerry Garcia.’ And Glenn is like, ‘And Glenn Frey!’”
Spero’s ties to the Eagles include learning the music management business by apprenticing with that band’s manager, Irving Azoff.
A Beachwood High School grauate and current South Euclid resident, Spero and wife, Ellen, will celebrate 48 years of marriage the week his documentary is shown. They have one son, Adam, 46.
After the Beatles, the teenage Spero’s next favorite group was the Hollies, so it was a great thrill when the Hollies appeared on “Upbeat.” He developed a friendship over the years with the group’s Graham Nash, who he calls “a fantastic guy.”
In 2010, when the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Spero felt honored when Nash mentioned him during his induction speech as his friend.
Yes, Spero has enough stories to, as it is said, fill a book, and that book, 2022’s “A Life in the Wings,” has sold 10,000 copies.
In November, he will have another story to add to his list.
Although he has reduced his management roster to just a couple of clients, they include Bad Co.’s Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke. Bad Co. is set to be inducted into the Rock Hall Nov. 8 in Los Angeles.
Spero’s association with Rodgers dates to 1971, when Rodgers sang for the band Free. Then at WMMS, Spero helped make that band’s “All Right Now” into a hit through regular airplay, a fact Rodgers very much appreciated..
“The Heart of Rock and Roll, A Cleveland Rocks Story” has garnered the attention of executives from Paramount Plus, Netflix and Apple TV, meaning it may appear on a streaming service in coming months. The film was shown once in March at the Cedar Lee Theater, and in May won a technical award at a Las Vegas film festival.
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” features several interviews with Spero, but for those who want to know more, Spero and Donovan will take part in a Q&A session following the Oct. 9 screening.
One thing is for sure, when talking rock ‘n’ roll with David Spero, one never knows what famous names or suprising events will come up.