Tracy Zamot, a veteran publicist who worked with such acts as Led Zeppelin, Phil Collins, and Matchbox Twenty, has died after a prolonged illness, her family announced on Facebook Tuesday. She was 55.
A New York native who attended SUNY Albany as an undergraduate, Zamot entered the music industry in 1992 as a publicist at Atlantic Records, where she would work for 10 years rising to VP, National Publicity. There, she served as a representative for a variety of artists, including Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant), Phil Collins and Genesis, Matchbox Twenty, Collective Soul, Rush, Pet Shop Boys, and Craig David, running national campaigns across print, TV, and emerging digital outlets.
Zamot went on to a similar role at Virgin EMI Records, strategizing PR for Gorillaz, Lenny Kravitz, Iggy Pop, KT Tunstall, and We Are Scientists, among other label signings. She was a fixture on red carpet events like the Grammy Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards for much of the Nineties and Aughts.
A SVP position at Universal Motown Records from 2007 to 2009 found Zamot managing a nine-person publicity team while overseeing the full label roster, which included Lil Wayne and Ashanti. She went independent for a time after, counting among her clients Primary Wave Publishing, Stones Throw Records, and distributor Sony RED under the banner Covers Media. A brief stint at SiriusXM and Pandora would lead Zamot to the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where she served as head of communications.
Sassy and seasoned, Zamot was endeared by music journalists, with whom she shared a unique language and plenty of laughs. Still, there was a sadness to Zamot’s aura in the last decade of her life following the unexpected 2015 death of her husband, John Loscalzo, at 52. The two met in the music industry, where he had worked in radio, and have one daughter.
