Louis Thomas Hardin was born in 1916 in Marysville, Kansas, United States of America. He died in 1999 in Germany, where he had spent more than two decades of his life before, after he had left the USA in the mid 1970s where he had become the composer and performing artist known as Moondog.

To quote from Robert Scottos` Moondog biography, his life "is one of the most improbable lives of the twentieth century: a blind and homeless street musician becomes a legendary eccentric in New York City and rises to prominence as a major-label recording artist and internationally respected composer. He became an honorary member of the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in the late 1940s. His unique, melodic compositions were released by the Prestige jazz label, and the late 1960s Viking-garbed Moondog became a pop music sensation on Columbia Records" (Robert Scotto, Moondog The Viking of 6th Avenue, authorized biography, published by Process Media 2007.)

His sole heiress to Louis Hardin estate, Mrs. Ilona Sommer who professionally as well as a close friend shared her life from the 1970s until his death in 1999 with him, published Moondog’s musical works under Managarm Musikverlag, inherited by his last will the duty and honor to own, administer and curate the works of Moondog.

When she died in 2011, Mrs. Sommer appointed by her last will the long-standing friend and German lawyer of hers, Mr. Alexander Duve Esq., as the Executor of Will to her entire estate that includes in particular the Louis Hardin estate.

Since 2011 Mr. Alexander Duve Esq., partner to the Berlin based German law firm Busch Duve Partner exclusively controls and administers the Louis Hardin aka Moondog estate.

The Estate of Louis Hardin, represented by the Executor of Will Mr. Alexander Duve Esq., controls all publishing rights to all of Moondog’s compositions and copyrights in most of his original recordings. Any and all requests as regards the Moondog Estate including licensing requests may be solely addressed to the Executor of Will by using the following address:

Alexander Duve, Rechtsanwalt
Schuetzenstr. 44
D-12165 Berlin
Germany

Feel free to use this form to contact us:

Or send a mail to: berlin@buschduve-legal.de

For any licensing inquiries for USA please contact:

Virtual Label LLC
361 Stagg Street Suite 403
Brooklyn, NY 11206, USA
+ 1 (718) 222 0330 121
peter@virtuallabel.net