OCTOBER 27 • 2022 | 53

I

n 1970, when he was 20 years old, 
Howard Hertz hitchhiked from 
Detroit to New York. He bought a 
one-way ticket on a charter flight to 
London, where he bought a motorcycle. 
For the next six months, he 
traveled throughout Europe, 
North Africa and Israel — 
always with a harmonica 
in his pocket. To this day, 
Hertz never leaves home 
without his harmonica. 
Whether it’s in his car, 
briefcase or backpack, he’s always got one 
with him because, as the noted musician 
and attorney says, “You just never know.”
You also just never know when 
you’re going to be awarded the Lifetime 
Achievement Award as a “Champion 
for Artistic Freedom” by the Cultural 
Council of Birmingham Bloomfield. On 
Oct. 14, at the Birmingham Bloomfield 
Art Center, Hertz received the special 
award for his decades-long service to 
countless nonprofits and underserved 
and up-and-coming musicians. Hertz 
has dedicated his life to providing pro 
bono legal and management expertise to 
individuals and arts organizations.
“Getting an award from the 
community that I have had a private 
practice in since 1979 makes me feel 
appreciated for the hard work that I’ve 
put in,” says Hertz, the lead attorney 
for Hertz Schram’s Entertainment and 
Intellectual Property Practice Groups in 
Bloomfield Hills and Detroit.
“I hope that doesn’t mean that I’m 
old,” Hertz laughs. “When you get a 
Lifetime Achievement Award, you think 
it’s the end of your career, which it’s not. 
I’m more involved now than I have ever 
been.”
So much so that Hertz, who is a board 
member with the Sphinx Organization 
for the past 10 years, missed the 25th 
Anniversary Concert and Gala at 
Carnegie Hall in New York because it fell 
on Oct. 13, the day before his Lifetime 
Achievement Award presentation in 
Birmingham.

AN IMPRESSIVE CLIENT ROSTER
Hertz’s extensive celebrity client roster 

ARTS&LIFE
AWARD

continued on page 54

Howard 
Hertz

Howard Hertz receives lifetime 
achievement award.

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Champion For
Artistic 
 Freedom

Wendy Hertz titled 
her oil painting of her 
husband, Howard, 
“Papa Blues.” It was an 
official entry in the 2018 
ArtPrize competition.