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107-541: In 1989, Baumann hired veteran music executive Ron Goldstein of Warner Bros. Records as Private Music's president and CEO. Goldstein moved the offices from New York City to Los Angeles, hiring Karen Johnson to expand the label's image. Baumann recruited the well-respected, mainstream A&R executive Jamie Cohen. Visual image was important to Goldstein, who handpicked art director Melanie Penny, previously of Virgin Records and Warner Bros., as VP, Creative Services, through

214-517: A Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone. In the early 1980s he was endorsed by Yamaha and played their saxophones on the albums As We Speak and Backstreet . He can be seen playing a Yamaha saxophone at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1981. According to an April 1988 interview in the jazz magazine DownBeat , he had a preference for Selmer Mark VI alto saxophones in the 140,000-150,000 serial number range, all produced in 1967. From

321-511: A Gold Record award, and is cited as being the fastest-selling LP ever released in the US up to that time. Sherman also scored a hit single in late 1963 with a cut from his third WBR album, My Son, The Nut , when his song "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" (which satirized the American summer camp tradition) became a surprise novelty hit, peaking at #2. Bill Cosby broke through soon after and he continued

428-410: A US No. 1 with " Windy ", and they reached No. 8 on the album chart with their first Warner Bros. album Insight Out . Their next single " Never My Love " also topped the charts in autumn 1967 (No. 2 Billboard , No. 1 Cashbox ), and now ranks as one of the most successful of all Warner Bros. recordings—it became a radio staple and is now accredited by BMI as the second most-played song on US radio in

535-596: A dinner, he recalled that Warner effusively greeted him as "the man who saved Warner Brothers Records". Despite the turnaround in the label's commercial and critical fortunes at the start of the new decade, Jim Conkling was unexpectedly forced out as CEO during 1961. The ostensible reason for his ousting was that Warner and the studio executives doubted Conkling's commitment to the label, after they discovered that he had sold his shares of Warner Bros stock, netting him around $ 1 million. However, label biographer Warren Zanes and former WBR executive Stan Cornyn both opined that this

642-434: A few local radio and TV appearances. His break came thanks to a friend, local DJ Dan Sorkin, who knew Warner CEO Jim Conkling. Sorkin arranged for Newhart to make a demo tape of a few of his original sketches, which Conkling heard and liked. Equally remarkably, Newhart revealed that he had never performed in a club prior to recording the album. Warners arranged to record him at a Houston, Texas club called The Tidelands, where he

749-410: A freelance producer for some of Autumn's acts including The Tikis (who later became Harpers Bizarre ), The Beau Brummels , and The Mojo Men , and for these recording sessions he brought in several musician friends who were then becoming established on the L.A. music scene: composer/musicians Randy Newman (a childhood friend), Leon Russell , and Van Dyke Parks . Together they became the foundation of

856-567: A generous retainer of $ 200 per week. Hanging out around Laurel Canyon , Wickham scouted for new talent and established a rapport with the young musicians Warner Bros. was seeking to sign. Like Lenny Waronker, Wickham's youth, intelligence and hip attitude allowed him to bridge the "generation gap between these young performers and the older Warner 'establishment'". He played a major role in signing Eric Andersen , Jethro Tull , Van Morrison , and Joni Mitchell (who signed to Reprise), whom Wickham successfully recommended to Ostin in his first week with

963-412: A high profile in the industry thanks to songs he wrote that were covered by other acts like Three Dog Night and Alan Price . Although Warner Bros. spent large sums on albums that sold poorly, and there were some missteps in its promotion strategy, the presence of unorthodox acts like The Grateful Dead and critically acclaimed 'cult' performers like Newman and Parks, combined with the artistic freedom that

1070-457: A major reorganization of the entire Warner-Seven Arts music division. Mike Maitland was promoted to Executive Vice-president of both the recorded music and publishing operations, and George Lee took over from Victor Blau as operational head of the recording division. The restructure also reversed the reporting arrangement put in place in 1960, and from this point the Warner publishing arm reported to

1177-430: A meeting with Jerry Wexler , and Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun , co-owners of leading independent label Atlantic Records , which eventually resulted in the purchase of Atlantic in 1968. In June 1967, Mo Ostin attended the historic Monterey International Pop Festival , where The Association performed the opening set. Ostin had already acquired the US rights to The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's recordings, sight unseen, but he

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1284-484: A new four-year production and distribution deal with local label Festival Records without informing Warner Bros. During 1969, the rivalry between Mike Maitland and Ahmet Ertegun quickly escalated into an all-out executive battle, but Steve Ross favored Ertegun, and the conflict culminated in Maitland being dismissed from his position on January 25, 1970. He declined an offer of a job with Warner Bros. Pictures and left

1391-588: A seat on the Warner/Reprise board; Warner Bros. Records head Mike Maitland became the president of the new combine and Mo Ostin was retained as manager of the Reprise label. Reprise was heavily in debt at the time of the takeover, and the Warner Records management team was reportedly dismayed at their balance sheet being pushed back into the red by the acquisition, but they were given no choice in

1498-419: A substantial advance of $ 30,000 and, most significantly, it set a new benchmark for recording contracts by stipulating that the trio would have complete creative control over the recording and packaging of their music. Soon after, Grossman and Mogull signed a publishing deal that gave Witmark one of its most lucrative clients, Bob Dylan . Grossman bought out Dylan's previous contract with Leeds Music and signed

1605-499: A successful production partnership with noted British studio Hammer Films . Hyman's purchase of Jack L. Warner's controlling share of the Warner group for US$ 32 million stunned the film world—Warner Records executive Joe Smith later quipped that it was ... as if the Pasadena Star-News bought The New York Times . As ludicrous as that." The newly merged group was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (often referred to in

1712-636: A trio featuring jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco and Steve Gadd . They played the combination of blues and jazz from his album Only Everything . In 2011, Sanborn toured with keyboardist George Duke and bassist Marcus Miller as the group DMS. In 2013, Sanborn toured with keyboardist Brian Culbertson on "The Dream Tour" celebrating the 25th anniversary of the song "The Dream". Besides playing alto saxophone as his main instrument, Sanborn also played baritone, soprano and sopranino saxophones; saxello; flute; and keyboards/piano on some recordings. Sanborn performed and hosted radio, television, and web programs. He

1819-819: A two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey of English rock band The Who in celebration of his fiftieth birthday. In 1994 a CD and a VHS video were issued, and in 1998 a DVD was released. In 1995 Sanborn performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True , a musical performance at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund . The performance was broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT) and issued on CD and video in 1996. In 2006, he featured in Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band 's album The Phat Pack on

1926-472: Is co-credited with the band on the album). The group and their concert sound engineer Dan Healy then took over production of the album themselves, taking the unusual step of intermixing studio material with multitrack recordings of their concerts. Anthem of the Sun proved to be the least successful of The Grateful Dead's 1960s albums—it sold poorly, the extended sessions put the band more than $ 100,000 in debt to

2033-572: The All Music Guide to Jazz described as a "return by Sanborn to his real, true love: unadorned (or only partly adorned) jazz" that "balanced the scales" against his smooth jazz material. The album, produced by Hal Willner , featured musicians from outside the smooth jazz scene, such as Terry Adams , Charlie Haden , Jack DeJohnette , Bill Frisell , and Marc Ribot . In 1994, Sanborn appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who , also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend,

2140-554: The Billboard Hot 100 . It was nominally performed by Warner contract actor Edd Byrnes , who played the wisecracking hipster character Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III on Warner's TV detective series 77 Sunset Strip . The story behind the recording illustrates the sharp practices often employed by major recording companies. Actress and singer Connie Stevens (who appeared in the Warner TV series Hawaiian Eye ) spoke on

2247-646: The Best Comedy Performance–Spoken Word category, and Newhart himself won Best New Artist , the first time in Grammy history that a comedy album had won Album of the Year, and the only time a comedian has won Best New Artist. Interviewed for the official Warner Bros Records history in 2008, Newhart recalled that at the time he signed with the label he was totally unknown outside Chicago, he was still working full-time as an accountant, and he had done only

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2354-528: The Brecker Brothers , Michael Franks , Kenny Loggins , Casiopea , Players Association , David Bowie , Todd Rundgren , Bruce Springsteen , Little Feat , Tommy Bolin , Bob James , James Taylor , Al Jarreau , Pure Prairie League , Kenny G , Loudon Wainwright III , George Benson , Joe Beck , Donny Hathaway , Elton John , Gil Evans , Carly Simon , Guru , Linda Ronstadt , Billy Joel , Kenny Garrett , Roger Waters , Steely Dan , Ween ,

2461-565: The Columbia label, reverted to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sold Brunswick a second time (along with Brunswick's back catalog up to 1931) in 1941, this time along with the old Brunswick pressing plants Warner owned, to Decca Records (which formed its American operations in 1934) in exchange for a financial interest in Decca. The heavy loss it incurred in the Brunswick deal kept the studio out of

2568-497: The Compo Company . This was the origin of Warner Music Canada. In November 1966 the entire Warner group was taken over by and merged with Seven Arts Productions , a New York-based company owned by Eliot Hyman . Seven Arts specialized in syndicating old movies and cartoons to TV, and had independently produced a number of significant feature films for other studios, including Stanley Kubrick 's Lolita , as well as forging

2675-588: The Eagles , Grateful Dead , Nena , Hikaru Utada , The Rolling Stones , Ian Hunter , and Toto . Many of his solo recordings were collaborations with bassist/multi-instrumentalist/composer and producer Marcus Miller , whom he met in the Saturday Night Live band in the late 1970s. Sanborn performed with Eric Clapton on film soundtracks such as Lethal Weapon (and its sequels) and Scrooged . In 1991, Sanborn recorded Another Hand , which

2782-762: The Sex Pistols . At the end of the silent movie period, Warner Bros. Pictures decided to expand into publishing and recording so that it could access low-cost music content for its films. In 1928, the studio acquired several smaller music publishing firms which included M. Witmark & Sons , Harms Inc., and a partial interest in New World Music Corp., and merged them to form the Music Publishers Holding Company. This new group controlled valuable copyrights on standards by George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern , and

2889-737: The Warner Music Group , it is headquartered in Los Angeles , California . It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros. Artists who have recorded for Warner Records include Madonna , Prince , Linkin Park , Zach Bryan , Van Halen , Kylie Minogue , ZZ Top , Gorillaz , Bette Midler , Grateful Dead , Jane's Addiction , Duran Duran , Fleetwood Mac , Rod Stewart , Funkadelic , James Taylor , Red Hot Chili Peppers , Mac Miller , R.E.M. , Bob James , David Sanborn , and

2996-546: The " Summer of Love ", and while visiting recording studios was invited to sit in on a session with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band . He made such an impression that he stayed with the band for five years. Sanborn recorded on four Butterfield albums as a horn section member and soloist from 1967 to 1971, and in the early morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, he appeared with the band at the Woodstock Music Festival at Bethel, NY. In 1972, Sanborn played on

3103-663: The 1980s and 1990s, Sanborn hosted a syndicated radio program, The Jazz Show with David Sanborn . Sanborn recorded many shows' theme songs, as well as several other songs for The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder . In 2021, as the coronavirus pandemic paused live music performances in public venues, Sanborn hosted a series of master classes on Zoom and also virtual productions of "Sanborn Sessions" with artists such as Marcus Miller, Christian McBride , Sting , Michael McDonald , which involved live performances and interviews from his home in Westchester, New York . Sanborn played

3210-555: The 20th century, surpassing both " Yesterday " by the Beatles and " Stand by Me " by Ben E. King . The group's 1968 Greatest Hits album was also a major hit, reaching No. 4 on the US album chart. In 1968, Mason Williams ' instrumental composition " Classical Gas " reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart, selling more than a million copies, and Williams won three Grammys that year. Another notable Warner release from this period

3317-667: The Brecker brothers he recorded his first solo album, Taking Off , which became a jazz/funk classic. In 1985, Sanborn and Al Jarreau played two sold-out concerts at Chastain Park in Atlanta. Although Sanborn was most associated with smooth jazz , he studied free jazz in his youth with saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Julius Hemphill . In 1993, he revisited this genre when he appeared on Tim Berne 's Diminutive Mysteries , dedicated to Hemphill. Sanborn's album Another Hand which featured avant-garde musicians. He found life on

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3424-537: The Ertegun brothers and Wexler between them 66,000 shares of Warner Bros.' common stock. On June 1, 1968, Billboard announced that Warner Bros. Records' star comedy performer Bill Cosby had turned down a five-year, US$ 3.5 million contract renewal offer, and would leave the label in August of that year to record for his own Tetragrammaton Records label. Just over one month later (July 13) Billboard reported on

3531-544: The Grammy-winning Phantom Blues Band. With its increasing influence in blues and roots music, and at the peak of its performance in record sales, Private Music entered into a joint venture with House of Blues ' record label, featuring such artists as Cissy Houston and John Mooney . In 2001, Private Music became part of the short-lived Arista Associated Labels , which also included Windham Hill Records . By 2004, after Sony and BMG merged,

3638-465: The US (said rights previously being held by Laurie Records ). Clark soon scored a No. 1 US hit with " Downtown ". Warner also released other Pye artists in the US market such as the Kinks. Another significant development in the label's history came in 1966 when Ostin hired young independent producer Lenny Waronker as an A&R manager, beginning a strong and enduring mentor/protegé relationship between

3745-454: The US and selling more than eight million copies, and their debut Warner Bros. album It's Everly Time reached No. 9 on the album chart. In late 1959, Warner Bros signed a virtually unknown Chicago-based comedian, Bob Newhart , marking the beginning of the label's continuing involvement with comedy. Newhart provided the label's next major commercial breakthrough — in May 1960, three months after

3852-484: The Warner family of labels were The Jimi Hendrix Experience 's Are You Experienced , Van Morrison 's Astral Weeks , The Grateful Dead 's Anthem of the Sun , The Doobie Brothers ' Toulouse Street , Tiny Tim 's God Bless Tiny Tim , and Joni Mitchell 's Clouds , which set off a trend of musicians creating the artwork for their own record sleeves. In 1973, when Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement with his comeback album, Thrasher shot candid photographs for

3959-573: The Warner group in the years ahead– National Periodical Publications (which included DC Comics and All American Comics ), the Ashley-Famous talent agency, and Panavision . In the summer of 1969, Atlantic Records agreed to assist Warner Bros. Records in establishing overseas divisions, but when Warner executive Phil Rose arrived in Australia to begin setting up a subsidiary there, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed

4066-473: The age of 78. He had been diagnosed with the disease in 2018. Sanborn won six Grammy Awards and had eight gold albums and one platinum album. Sanborn won Grammy Awards for Voyeur (1981), Double Vision (1986), and the instrumental album Close Up (1988). In 2004, Sanborn was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame . Compilations As guest With George Benson With James Brown With

4173-514: The album would be released, he was amazed to be told that the label was rushing all available copies to Minneapolis, because radio DJs there had broken it, and it had become so popular that a local newspaper was even printing the times that tracks would be played on air. He recalled that the success of the album almost instantly kick-started his career, and that he was soon being deluged with appearance offers, including The Ed Sullivan Show . A few months later, when Newhart met Conkling and Jack Warner at

4280-518: The band presented Warner Bros. with a planned live double album that they wanted to call Skull Fuck , but Ostin handled the matter diplomatically. Rather than refusing point-blank to release it, he reminded The Grateful Dead that they were heavily in debt to Warner's and would not see any royalties until this had been repaid; he also pointed out that the provocative title would inevitably hurt sales because major retailers like Sears would refuse to stock it. Realizing that this would reduce their income,

4387-458: The band voluntarily changed the title to Grateful Dead, known generally as Skull and Roses . Some of Warner Bros.' biggest commercial successes during this period were with " Sunshine Pop " acts. Harpers Bizarre scored a No. 13 Billboard hit in April 1967 with their version of Simon & Garfunkel 's " The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) ", and a month later The Association scored

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4494-482: The band was ultimately signed by Atlantic Records , they eventually became part of the Warner Bros. catalogue after Atlantic was purchased by Warner Bros. Records. In 1967, Warner Bros. took over Valiant Records , which added hit-making harmony pop group The Association to the Warner roster. This acquisition proved to be another huge money-maker for Warner Bros.; The Association scored a string of major hits in

4601-582: The company, subsequently becoming president of MCA Records . Mo Ostin was appointed president of Warner Bros. Records with Joe Smith as executive vice-president. In 1970, the 'Seven Arts' name was dropped and the WB shield became the Warner Bros. Records logo again. David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist . Sanborn worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B . He began playing

4708-419: The company. Over the next thirty years, Wickham became one of Warner's most influential A&R managers, signing such notable acts as Emmylou Harris , Buck Owens , and Norwegian pop trio a-ha . During this formative period, Warner Bros. made several other notable new signings including Randy Newman and Van Dyke Parks . Newman would not make his commercial breakthrough until the mid-1970s but he achieved

4815-552: The concert, Warner A&R manager Joe Smith took the stage and announced, "I just want to say what an honor it is to be able to introduce the Grateful Dead and its music to the world," which prompted a cynical Jerry Garcia to quip in reply, "I just want to say what an honor it is for the Grateful Dead to introduce Warner Bros. Records to the world." Also in 1967, Warner/Reprise established its Canadian operation Warner Reprise Canada Ltd., replacing its distribution deal with

4922-453: The cover and also devised the album title Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back , which was widely used to promote Sinatra's return to recording and touring. Besides his work on album covers, Thrasher art-directed many of Warner Bros.' ads and posters from 1964 to 1979. In 1964, Warner Bros. successfully negotiated with French label Disques Vogue and Warner Bros.' British distributor Pye Records for the rights to distribute Petula Clark 's recordings in

5029-439: The creative salon that centered on Waronker at Warner Bros. and which, with Ostin's continuing support, became the catalyst for Warner Records' subsequent success as a rock music label. Initially, Waronker looked after the acts that Warner Bros. took over when they bought Autumn Records for $ 10,000, but during the year he also avidly pursued rising Los Angeles band The Buffalo Springfield . Although (much to his and Ostin's chagrin)

5136-418: The financial year 1961–62 in the black for the first time since its founding. In August 1963, Warner Bros. made a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra 's ailing Reprise Records as part of a deal to acquire Sinatra's services as a recording artist and as an actor for Warner Bros. Pictures. The total deal was valued at around US$ 10 million, and it gave Sinatra a one-third share in the combined record company and

5243-471: The hit record, rather than Hunter's latest Warner movie. In 1958, the studio signed Hunter as its first artist to its newly formed record division, although his subsequent recordings for the label failed to duplicate his success with Dot. Warner Bros. agreed to buy Imperial Records in 1956 and, although the deal fell apart, it marked the breaking of a psychological barrier: "If the company was willing to buy another label, why not start its own?" To establish

5350-426: The hits by Sinatra and his daughter Nancy , and the label also secured the US distribution rights to the recordings of the Kinks and Jimi Hendrix . Most importantly for the future of the company, the merger brought Reprise manager Mo Ostin into the Warner fold and "his ultimate value to Warner Bros. would dwarf Sinatra's." Ostin's business and musical instincts, and his rapport with artists were to prove crucial to

5457-462: The industry standard of the day. The duo were fielding offers from all the major labels as their Cadence contract wound up, but Warners eventually won out because the brothers harboured ambitions to branch out into film, and the label's connection to the movie studio provided the perfect opportunity. Luckily, the Everlys' first Warner Bros. single " Cathy's Clown " was a smash hit, climbing to No. 1 in

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5564-415: The introduction of television in the late 1940s. Legal changes also had a major impact on their business—lawsuits brought by major stars had effectively overthrown the old studio contract system by the late 1940s and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the U.S. government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains. In 1956, Harry Warner and Albert Warner sold their interest in

5671-427: The label afforded them, proved significant in building Warner Bros.' reputation and credibility. Bob Krasnow , who briefly headed Warner Bros.' short-lived 'black' label Loma Records, later commented that The Grateful Dead "...were really the springboard. People said, 'Wow, if they'll sign The Dead, they must be going in the right direction.'" Although not widely known to the general public at that time, Van Dyke Parks

5778-502: The label's creation was the music career of Warner Bros. actor Tab Hunter . Although Hunter was signed to an exclusive acting contract with the studio, it did not prevent him from signing a recording contract, which he did with Dot Records , owned at the time by Paramount Pictures . Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the US No. 1 single , " Young Love " (1957) and, to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about

5885-506: The label's dream run with comedy LPs into the late 1960s, releasing a string of highly successful albums on Warner Bros. over the next six years, alongside his groundbreaking career as a TV actor. The label's fortunes had finally turned around by 1962 thanks to the Everly Brothers , Newhart , folk stars Peter, Paul & Mary , jazz and pop crossover hit Joanie Sommers and comedian Allan Sherman , and Warner Bros. Records ended

5992-535: The label's releases switched to RCA . Following his Private Music tenure, Goldstein served as president and CEO of the Verve Music Group label at Universal Music Group , in New York City. Private Music has released a number of notable albums: Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label . A subsidiary of

6099-530: The label, and Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith later described it as "the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves." The Grateful Dead's relationship with Warner Bros. Records was stretched even further by the making of their third album Aoxomoxoa (1969), which also took around seven months to record and cost $ 180,000, almost twice as much as its predecessor. It sold poorly and took almost thirty years to be accredited with gold-record status. There were further difficulties in 1971 when

6206-527: The label, the company hired former Columbia Records president James B. Conkling; its founding directors of A&R were Harris Ashburn, George Avakian , and Bob Prince . Conkling was an able administrator with extensive experience in the industry—he had been instrumental in launching the LP format at Columbia and had played a key role in establishing the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

6313-487: The late 1960s, and their 1967 hit " Never My Love " went on to become the second-most-played song on American radio and TV in the 20th century. During the year, the label also took its first tentative step into the burgeoning rock market when they signed leading San Francisco psychedelic rock group The Grateful Dead . Warner Bros. threw the band a release party at Fugazi Hall in San Francisco's North Beach . During

6420-502: The late 1970s, Sanborn played mouthpieces created by Bobby Dukoff . He later played a mouthpiece designed by Aaron Drake. Sanborn was married to his fourth wife, French-born Alice Soyer Sanborn, a pianist, vocalist, and composer. His first three marriages ended in divorce. He had one son, Jonathan, a bass player, and two granddaughters. Sanborn died of complications from prostate cancer in Tarrytown, New York , on May 12, 2024, at

6527-559: The life of Private Music. Private Music emphasized its "artist re-development" efforts, supporting such eclectic veteran artists as Taj Mahal, Ringo Starr, Etta James, Jennifer Warnes , The Fabulous Thunderbirds , Toots Thielemans , Jimmy Witherspoon , Kate & Anna McGarrigle , Eliza Gilkyson , Joy Askew , The Pahinui Brothers , and Kenny Rankin , while expanding the catalogs of Yanni , Leo Kottke , Andy Summers , and Ravi Shankar , with strong "debut support" for A. J. Croce and Susan Werner . An international marketing department

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6634-404: The mainstream audience, and Warner Bros. took an early (though largely unsuccessful) lead in recording stereo LPs that targeted the new " hi-fi " market. The catalogue in this period included: Some albums featured jokey or self-deprecating titles such as: Almost all were commercial failures; and the only charting album in Warner Bros.' first two years was Warren Barker's 'soundtrack' album for

6741-494: The matter. Ben Kalmenson, a Warner Bros. company director and close aide to Jack Warner , summoned the label's directors to a meeting in New York and explicitly told them that both he and Warner wanted the deal and that they expected them to vote in favor of it. Despite these misgivings, the purchase ultimately proved very beneficial to the Warner group. Reprise flourished in the late 1960s thanks to Sinatra's famous comeback and

6848-470: The most expensive 'pop' albums ever made up to that time. It sold very poorly despite rave critical reviews, so publicist Stan Cornyn (who had helped the label to sign The Grateful Dead) wrote an infamous tongue-in-cheek advertisement to promote it. The ad cheekily declared that the label had "lost $ 35,509 on 'the album of the year' (dammit)," suggested that those who had purchased the album had probably worn their copies out by playing it over and over, and made

6955-403: The new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$ 2 million every year. In 1930, Music Publishers Holding Company (MPHC) paid US$ 28 million to acquire Brunswick Records (which included Vocalion ), whose roster included Duke Ellington , Red Nichols , Nick Lucas , Al Jolson , Earl Burtnett , Ethel Waters , Abe Lyman , Leroy Carr , Tampa Red and Memphis Minnie , and soon after

7062-437: The offer that listeners could send these supposedly worn-out copies back to Warner Bros., who would exchange it for two new copies, including one "to educate a friend with." Incensed by the tactic, Parks accused Cornyn of trying to kill his career. Cornyn encountered similar problems with Joni Mitchell—he penned an advertisement that was meant to convey the message that Mitchell was yet to achieve significant market penetration, but

7169-568: The opportunity to use the company's cars, which were idle at night, he founded a successful car hire operation, which he later merged with the Kinney parking garage company. Ross took the company public in 1962, and from this base it expanded rapidly between 1966 and 1968, merging with National Cleaning Services in 1966 to form the Kinney National Company, and then acquiring a string of companies that would prove of enormous value to

7276-474: The previous year. However, Conkling had decidedly middle-of-the-road musical tastes (he was married to Donna King of vocal trio the King Sisters ), and was thus rather out of step with emerging trends in the industry, especially the fast-growing market for rock'n'roll music. Warner Bros. Records opened for business on March 19, 1958. Its early album releases (1958–1960) were aimed at the upscale end of

7383-499: The price of records from 75 to 35 cents. In December 1931, Warner Bros. offloaded Brunswick to the American Record Corporation (ARC) for a fraction of its former value, in a lease arrangement which did not include Brunswick's pressing plants. Technically, Warner maintained actual ownership of Brunswick, which with the sale of ARC to CBS in 1939 and their decision to discontinue Brunswick in favor of reviving

7490-578: The profits from Warner/Reprise, W7 purchased Atlantic Records for $ 17.5 million, including the label's valuable archive, its growing roster of new artists, and the services of its three renowned executives Jerry Wexler , Nesuhi Ertegun and Ahmet Ertegun . However, the purchase again caused rancor among the Warner/Reprise management, who were upset that their hard-won profits had been co-opted to buy Atlantic, and that Atlantic's executives were made large shareholders in Warner-Seven Arts—the deal gave

7597-504: The radio, particularly saxophone breaks in songs such as Fats Domino 's " Ain't That a Shame " and Little Richard 's "Tutti Frutti". He loved the sound of the saxophone, and at the age of eleven was happy to change to saxophone from piano lessons when doctors recommended that he take up a wind instrument to improve his breathing and strengthen his chest muscles. By the age of 14 he was a good enough saxophonist to play with blues musicians in local clubs. Alto saxophonist Hank Crawford , at

7704-442: The record business booming – sales had topped US$ 500 million by 1958 – Semnenko argued that it was foolish for Warner Bros. to make deals with other companies to release its soundtracks when, for less than the cost of one motion picture, they could establish their own label, creating a new income stream that could continue indefinitely and provide an additional means of exploiting and promoting its contract actors. Another impetus for

7811-423: The record business for almost 20 years, and during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums. Warner Bros. returned to the record business on March 19, 1958, with the establishment of its own recording division, Warner Bros. Records. By this time, the established Hollywood studios were reeling from multiple challenges to their former dominance—the most notable being

7918-488: The record division under Maitland. The Billboard article also noted the enormous growth and vital significance of W7's music operations, which were by then providing most of Warner-Seven Arts' revenue—during the first nine months of that fiscal year, the recording and publishing divisions generated 74% of the corporation's total profit, with the publishing division alone accounting for over US$ 2 million of ASCAP 's collections from music users. In 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts

8025-502: The right. Below the shield in white Rockwell font, it read "VITAPHONIC HIGH FIDELITY;" this 45 label was used for two years, 1958 – 1960. This initial 45 label was soon replaced by a new, all-red label with the WB shield logo at 9 o'clock and a number of different-colored arrows (blue, chartreuse, and yellow) surrounding and pointing away from the center hole. The first hit was the novelty record " Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb) ", with words and music by Irving Taylor, which reached No. 4 on

8132-500: The road increasingly difficult but continued to tour. In 2017, despite plans to reduce his workload to no more than 150 gigs a year, he embarked on a tour that included Istanbul and Nairobi. Sanborn was a highly regarded session player from the late 1960s onwards, and played with an array of well-known artists such as James Brown , Phil Woods , Bryan Ferry , Michael Stanley , Eric Clapton , Bobby Charles , Cat Stevens , Roger Daltrey , Stevie Wonder , Paul Simon , Jaco Pastorius ,

8239-508: The sale to Warner Bros., the label signed rising radio and recording stars Bing Crosby , Mills Brothers , and Boswell Sisters . Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the dual impact of the Great Depression and the introduction of broadcast radio greatly harmed the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million records in 1927 to fewer than 10 million by 1932 and major companies were forced to halve

8346-544: The saxophone at the age of 11 and released his first solo album, Taking Off, in 1975. He was active as a session musician , and played on numerous albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Sting, the Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones, James Brown, George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Bryan Ferry and the Rolling Stones. He released more than 20 albums and won six Grammy awards. Sanborn

8453-500: The show positioned Sanborn with many famed musicians, such as Miles Davis , Dizzy Gillespie , Pharoah Sanders , NRBQ , Eric Clapton , Robert Cray , Lou Reed , Elliott Sharp , Jean-Luc Ponty , Santana , Todd Rundgren , Youssou N'dour , Pere Ubu , Loudon Wainwright III , Mary Margaret O'Hara , Screamin' Jay Hawkins , Leonard Cohen , Sonic Youth , Was (Not Was) , Anson Funderburgh , Warren Zevon , John Zorn , Curtis Mayfield , Richard Thompson and Jo-El Sonnier . During

8560-604: The song's chorus, but although her record contract entitled her to a five-percent royalty rate, the label arbitrarily defined her contribution to be a favor to Byrnes, and assigned her just 1% royalty on the song, despite the fact that, as she soon discovered, her name was being prominently displayed on the single's label. Warner Bros. also charged her for a share of the recording costs, which was to be recouped from her drastically reduced royalty. When Stevens scored her own hit single with " Sixteen Reasons " in 1960, Warner Bros. refused to allow her to perform it on Hawaiian Eye because it

8667-507: The studio and the board was joined by new members who favored a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko of the First National Bank of Boston and investor David Baird. Semenenko in particular had a strong professional interest in the entertainment business and he began to push Jack Warner on the issue of setting up an 'in-house' record label. With

8774-407: The studio's hit series 77 Sunset Strip , which reached No. 3 in 1959. Tab Hunter's " Jealous Heart " (WB 5008), which reached No. 62, was Warner Bros.' only charting single during its first year. Early Warner Bros. singles had distinctive pink labels, with the WB logo at the top center and "WARNER" in white Hellenic font to the left of the WB shield and "BROS." in the same color and style font to

8881-505: The success of "Cathy's Clown", Newhart's debut album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart unexpectedly shot straight to No. 1 in the US, staying at the top for fourteen weeks, charting for more than two years and selling more than 600,000 copies. Capping this commercial success, Newhart scored historic wins in three major categories at the 1961 Grammy Awards — he won Album of the Year for Button-Down Mind , his quickly released follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back (1960) won

8988-528: The success of the Warner labels over the next two decades. In 1964, Warner Bros. launched Loma Records , which was meant to focus on R&B acts. The label, run by former King Records promotion man Bob Krasnow , would release over 100 singles and five albums, but saw only limited success and was wound down in 1968. An important addition to the Warner Bros. staff in this period was Ed Thrasher , who moved from Columbia Records in 1964 to become Warner/Reprise's head art director. Among his design credits for

9095-405: The tag-line "Joni Mitchell is 90% Virgin" reportedly reduced Mitchell to tears, and Cornyn had to withdraw it from publication. Warner Bros. also struggled with their flagship rock act, The Grateful Dead who, like Peter, Paul and Mary , had negotiated complete artistic control over the recording and packaging of their music. Their debut album had been recorded in just four days, and although it

9202-560: The then-unknown singer-songwriter to Witmark for an advance of $ 5000. Two years later in 1963, Peter, Paul & Mary scored two consecutive Top 10 hits with Dylan songs, launching Dylan's career, and this was followed by many more hits by artists covering Dylan's songs, alongside the growing commercial success of Dylan himself. Grossman benefited enormously from both deals, because he took a 25% commission as Dylan's manager, and he structured Dylan's publishing deal so that he received 50% of Witmark's share of Dylan's publishing income —a tactic that

9309-476: The time a member of Ray Charles 's band, was an early and lasting influence. Sanborn attended college at Northwestern University and studied music. He transferred to the University of Iowa , where he played and studied with saxophonist J.R. Monterose . Sanborn performed with blues musicians Albert King and Little Milton at the age of 14. In 1967 he took a Greyhound bus to San Francisco to join

9416-667: The track " Play That Funky Music ", a remake of the Wild Cherry hit in a big band style. Sanborn often performed at Japan's Blue Note venues in Nagoya , Osaka , and Tokyo. He played on the song "Your Party" on Ween 's 2007 release La Cucaracha . On April 8, 2007, Sanborn sat in with the Allman Brothers Band during their annual run at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. In 2010, Sanborn toured with

9523-536: The track "Tuesday Heartbreak" on the Stevie Wonder album Talking Book . In 1975 he worked with David Bowie on Young Americans and on the James Taylor recording of " How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) " on the album Gorilla . In the mid-1970s, Sanborn became active in the popular jazz fusion scene by joining the Brecker Brothers band, where he became influenced by Michael Brecker . With

9630-416: The trade press by the abbreviation it adopted for its new logo, "W7"). Although Warner Bros. Pictures was faltering, the purchase coincided with a period of tremendous growth in the music industry, and Warner-Reprise was now on its way to becoming a major player in the industry. Hyman's investment banker Alan Hirshfeld, of Charles Allen and Company, urged him to expand the company's record holdings, and arranged

9737-407: The two. Waronker, the son of Liberty Records founder Simon Waronker , had previously worked as an assistant to Liberty producer Snuff Garrett . Later he worked with the small San Francisco label Autumn Records , founded by disc jockeys Tom Donahue , Bobby Mitchell , and Sylvester Stewart (who would soon become famous as a musician under his stage name Sly Stone). Waronker had been hired as

9844-435: The verge of signing with Atlantic Records , but before the deal could be completed they were poached by Warner Bros. Artie Mogull (who worked for one of Warner Bros.' publishing companies, Witmark Music) had introduced their manager Albert Grossman to Herman Starr, and as a result the group signed a recording and publishing deal with Warner Bros. Grossman's deal for the group broke new ground for recording artists — it included

9951-431: Was Astral Weeks , the second solo album by Van Morrison (his first was on Bang ), who signed with the label in 1968. Although it sold relatively poorly on its first release (and did not reach gold record status until 2001), it has been widely acclaimed by musicians and critics worldwide, has featured on many "Best Albums of All Time" lists, and has remained in release almost continuously since 1968. During 1968, using

10058-484: Was a figure of high repute on the L.A. music scene thanks to his work as a session musician and songwriter (notably with the Byrds and Harper's Bizarre ), and especially because of his renowned collaboration with Brian Wilson on the legendary unreleased Beach Boys album Smile . In 1967, Lenny Waronker produced Parks' Warner debut album Song Cycle , which reportedly cost more than $ 35,000 to record, making it one of

10165-550: Was a member of the Saturday Night Live Band in 1980. From the late 1980s he was a regular guest member of Paul Shaffer 's band on Late Night with David Letterman . He also appeared a few times on the Late Show with David Letterman in the 1990s. From 1988 to 1989, he co-hosted Night Music , a late-night music show on television with Jools Holland . Following producer Hal Willner 's eclectic approach,

10272-540: Was added, led by longtime Sony Music executive J.P. Bommel. Private Music's recordings earned multiple Grammy Awards and nominations, including Etta James's first career win, in 1994, for best jazz vocal performance on Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday , her debut of three albums on the label. Private's roster achieved high recognition on national television. Numerous artist appearances included interviews and performances on late-night talk shows and morning shows, MTV, and VH1. Private's Grammy winner Taj Mahal spawned

10379-586: Was because the Warner board was reluctant to write off the additional $ 2 million the label was owed in outstanding receivables and inventory. After a restructure, Conkling was obliged to report to Herman Starr; he rejected a buyout offer by Conkling and a group of other record company employees but agreed to keep the label running in exchange for heavy cost-cutting—the staff was reduced from 100 to 30 and Conkling voluntarily cut his own pay from $ 1000 to $ 500. Warner Bros. now turned to rock'n'roll acts in hopes of advancing its sales but their first signing, Bill Haley ,

10486-449: Was booked for a two-week residency as the opening act, beginning February 12, 1960, and Newhart freely admitted to being "terrified" on his first night. He quickly realised that he had only enough material for one side of an album, but by the time Warner A&R manager George Avakian arrived for the recording, Newhart had hastily written enough new material to fill both sides of an LP. When Newhart contacted Warners in April to find out when

10593-547: Was by then past his prime and failed to score any hits. The label was more fortunate with its next signing, the Everly Brothers , whom Warner Bros. secured after the end of their previous contract with Cadence Records . Herman Starr effectively gambled the future of the company by approving what was reputed to be the first million-dollar contract in music history, which guaranteed the Everly Brothers $ 525,000 against an escalating royalty rate of up to 7 percent, well above

10700-478: Was later emulated by other leading artist managers such as David Geffen . Meanwhile, the label enjoyed further major success with comedy recordings. Comedian Allan Sherman (who had been signed on the personal recommendation of George Burns ), issued his first Warner LP My Son, the Folk Singer in 1962. The album, which satirized the folk boom, became a major hit, selling over a million copies, and winning

10807-514: Was merely a pretext, and that the studio effectively scapegoated Conkling for the label's earlier failures, pointing to the fact that Conkling's successor had been selected well before Conkling was terminated. Conkling resigned in the fall of that year, and was replaced by Mike Maitland, another former Capitol Records executive. Around the same time, Joe Smith was appointed as head of promotions. Warner Bros. made another prescient signing in folk group Peter, Paul & Mary . The trio had been on

10914-602: Was not a major hit, it cracked the US Top 50 album chart and sold steadily, eventually going gold in 1971. For their second album, The Grateful Dead took a far more experimental approach, embarking on a marathon series of recording sessions lasting seven months, from September 1967 to March 1968. They started the album with David Hassinger , who had produced their first album, but he quit the project in frustration in December 1967 while they were recording in New York City (although he

11021-400: Was not published by MPHC, and they also prevented her from singing it on The Ed Sullivan Show , thereby robbing her of nationwide promotion (and a $ 5000 appearance fee). With only two hits to its credit in two years, the label was in serious financial trouble by 1960, having lost at least US$ 3 million and music historian Fredric Dannen reports that the only reason it was not closed down

11128-480: Was one of the most commercially successful American saxophonists to earn prominence since the 1980s. He was described by critic Scott Yanow as "the most influential saxophonist on pop, R&B and crossover players of the past 20 years." He became identified with radio-friendly smooth jazz , although he disliked the term and said he was not a jazz musician. Sanborn was born in 1945 in Tampa , Florida, where his father

11235-479: Was reportedly unimpressed by Hendrix's now-famous performance. During his visit he met Andy Wickham , who had come to Monterey as an assistant to festival promoter Lou Adler . Wickham had worked as a commercial artist in London , followed by a stint with Andrew Loog Oldham 's Immediate Records before moving to Los Angeles to work for Adler's Dunhill label. Ostin initially hired Wickham as Warner's "house hippie" on

11342-562: Was stationed in the US Air Force, and grew up in Kirkwood , a suburb of St Louis , Missouri . He contracted polio at the age of three: he "accepted his fate stoically" and endured a "miserable childhood". He was confined to an iron lung for a year, and the polio left him with impaired respiration and his left arm shorter than the right. While confined to bed, he was inspired by the "raw rock 'n' roll energy" of music he heard on

11449-531: Was taken over by the Kinney National Company , headed by New York businessman Steve J. Ross , who would successfully lead the Warner group of companies until his death in 1992. The US$ 400 million deal created a new conglomerate that combined the Warner film, television, recording, and music publishing divisions with Kinney's multi-faceted holdings. Ross had founded the company in the late 1950s while working in his family's funeral business—seeing

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