Career
In the late 1950s he played bass guitar in a local band, the Redcoats, in Miami, Florida, whose singer was Steve Alaimo. After Alaimo launched a solo career, the band split up, but Shapiro remained involved in the music business and received his first songwriting cr in 1965 on "I Can"t See Him Again" by the Twans, co-written with Henry Stone. In 1967, his song "Girl I Got News Foreign You", co-written with Bobby Puccetti and co-produced by Shapiro and Alaimo, was recorded by Benny Latimore, and over the next few years his songs were recorded by Betty Wright, Clarence Reid, and others
In 1970 he and Dave Crawford began working together at Atlantic Records and co-produced the debut album by The J. The following year he and Crawford co-produced Wilson Pickett"s "Don"t Knock My Love", which Shapiro co-wrote with the singer.
The record reached no.1 on the Rhythm & Blues chart. Shapiro continued to work with Pickett, as well as with Johnny Adams, Joe Simon, Bettye Lavette and others, before co-producing (with the singer) and co-writing several tracks on Millie Jackson"s albums Caught Up (1974) and Still Caught Up (1975).
In the mid-1970s, he co-founded the Kayvette record label, which issued records by Jackie Moore and the Facts of Life (formerly The Gospel Truth). Shapiro produced James Brown"s albums The Original Disco Manitoba and People in 1980.
He also continued to work with Millie Jackson as co-producer on many of her albums until the mid-1980s.
