MFEI 2026 Spirit of Life Campaign

Honoring Larry Mestel
Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music

Larry Mestel, Primary Wave Music, 2026 MFEI Spirit of Life Honoree

 

Lawrence Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music, has been working in the music and entertainment industry for over 30 years. In 2006, Mestel took his extensive experience working at multiple record labels and founded Primary Wave Music, a pioneer in acquiring legendary music catalogs and the largest independent music publishing company in the world. Primary Wave has controlled over 100,000 songs from the catalogs of legendary artists such as Bob Marley, Prince, Stevie Nicks, James Brown, Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses), The Notorious B.I.G., Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, The Doors, Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, Burt Bacharach, Bing Crosby, Luther Vandross, Andre 3000, Sun Records, and many more. The songs represented by Primary Wave include over 1000 Top 10 singles, and over 400 #1 hits. Originally founded on music publishing, Mestel has strategically and successfully built the company into a full-service music and entertainment powerhouse offering in-house marketing, branding, digital marketing, publicity, sync & licensing, TV & Film development, and estate management.

Mestel was one of the producers behind the critically acclaimed Kurt Cobain documentary film, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and he was part of the team who produced the Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody distributed by Sony Pictures. Mestel and Primary Wave are also producers for the Allee Willis documentary, The World According to Allee Willis, and the Luther Vandross documentary, Luther: Never Too Much, and is producing the Bob Marley immersive experience at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

In 2019 Goldman Sachs honored Larry Mestel as one of the “100 most intriguing entrepreneurs” at the annual Goldman Sachs Builders & Inventors summit. From 2020 through 2023, Mestel landed on Billboard Magazine’s “Power List” being recognized for his leadership in the music industry. In 2024, Mestel was once again featured on the Billboard Power 100, making the magazine’s “Leaderboard” which recognized the top 40 leaders across the music industry. He returned to the “Leaderboard” and Power List once again in 2025. He has also appeared on the Variety 500 three times and has been featured in top press outlets such as New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, New York Post, Forbes, Billboard Magazine, and HITS Magazine.

Helping Build a Healthier Future, Together

The 2026 Spirit of Life® campaign brings together leaders across the Music, Film and Entertainment Industry around a shared belief: when an industry comes together, it can move progress faster and make a lasting difference for patients and families.

In 2026, this collective effort will support City of Hope’s work to transform cancer and diabetes care—accelerating discoveries from the lab to the clinic, expanding access to whole-person care, and strengthening care delivery in communities across the country.