Hal Zieger (sometimes reported as "Hal Ziegler") was a music producer and promoter in Southern California in the 1950s and into the early 1960s. He is credited as one of the first distributors of rock music.[1]

 

I realize that this music got through to the youngsters because the big beat matched the great rhythms of the human body. I knew it and I knew there was nothing that anyone could do to knock that out of them. I further knew that they would carry this with them the rest of their lives.

-- Hal Zieger[2]

 

In 1961, Zieger hired Harry Nilsson and Harry's friend, Jerry Smith, as a duo to fill in for The Safaris during one of his "oldies" shows at a venue in National City, California.[3]