Warner Bros. Records
Encyclopedia
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American
record label
. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group
, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary
of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures
, although the two companies are independently owned. Rob Cavallo
currently serves as Chairman of the company.
. For most of its existence it was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the industry to become one of the top recording labels in the world.
In 2003 these music assets were divested by their then owner Time Warner
and purchased by a private equity group. This independent company currently trades as the Warner Music Group
(WMG), of which Warner Bros. Records is still an active label. WMG is currently the third-largest of the four major international music conglomerates and the world's only publicly traded major music company. The group's extensive publishing assets, which include over one million song copyrights by more than 65,000 songwriters, currently make it the world's largest music publisher.
era 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—including M. Witmark & Sons
, Remick Music Corp., 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 the new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$2 million annually.
In 1930 MPHC paid US$28 million to acquire Brunswick Records
, whose roster included Duke Ellington
, Red Nichols
, Al Jolson
, Earl Burtnett
, Abe Lyman
, Leroy Carr
, Tampa Red
and Memphis Minnie
, and soon after 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 decimated the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million units in 1927 to less than 10 million by 1932 and major companies were forced to halve the price of records from 75c to 35c. 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 the Columbia label, reverted back to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sold Brunswick (along with Brunswick's back catalog up to 1931) to Decca 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. Mainly due to Starr's considerable influence over Jack Warner
, the studio stayed out of the record business for more than 25 years, and during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums.
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; Warner Bros. Pictures sold off much of its movie library in 1948 (although, ironically, Time Warner's 1996 takeover of Turner Broadcasting returned most of the Warner archive to the company) and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the US government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains.
In 1956 Harry Warner
and Albert Warner
sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favoured 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 the record business booming—sales had topped US$500 million by 1958—Semenenko 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 the label's creation was the brief 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
, since Warner Bros. had no label of its own at the time. Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the U.S. #1 single "Young Love" (1957), and to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about the hit record, rather than Hunter's latest Warner movie. In 1958 the studio signed Hunter 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 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
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 19 March 1958; its original office was located above the film studio's machine shop at 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank, California. Its early album releases (1958–1960) were aimed at the upscale end of 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 the studio's hit series 77 Sunset Strip, which reached #3 in 1959. Tab Hunter's "Jealous Heart" (WB 5008), which reached #62, was Warner Bros. only charting single during its first year.
Early Warner Bros. singles had distinctive red labels, with the WB logo to the side and a number of different-colored arrows surrounding and pointing at the center hole. The first hit was the novelty record "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", which reached #4 on 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
) sang the song's chorus, but although her record contract entitled her to a 5 percent royalty rate, the label arbitrarily defined her contribution to be a favour 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 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 Frederick Dannen reports that the only reason it was not closed down 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, who still loathed the record business; 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
, 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
. In an uncharacteristically bold move, 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 the industry standard of the day. Luckily the Everlys' first Warner Bros. single, "Cathy's Clown
" was a smash hit, going to #1 in the U.S. and selling more than eight million copies, and their debut Warner Bros. album It's Everly Time
reached #9 on the album chart.
In 1959 Warner Bros. had signed rising standup 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 the success of "Cathy's Clown", Newhart's debut album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
went straight to #1 in the U.S., 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 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 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'.
New staff joined the label in late 1961—Jim Conkling retired in the fall of that year, selecting as his successor John K. (Mike) Maitland, a former Capitol executive, with Joe Smith appointed as head of promotions. Warner Bros. made another prescient signing in folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio had been on 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 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 the then unknown singer-songwriter to Witmark for an advance of $5000. Two years later in 1963, Peter, Paul and 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 was later emulated by other leading artist managers such as David Geffen
.
Meanwhile, the label enjoyed further success with comedy recordings. Allan Sherman
's LP My Son, the Folk Singer
, which satirised the folk boom, became a huge hit, selling over a million copies. Bill Cosby
broke through soon after and he continued 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, Peter, Paul & Mary and Allan Sherman, and Warner Bros. Records ended the financial year 1961-62 in the black for the first time since its foundation.
'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 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 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 the hits by Sinatra and his daughter Nancy
, and the label also secured the U.S. distribution rights to the recordings of 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 the success of the Warner labels over the next two decades.
In 1964, Warner Bros. would start 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 head art director. Among his credits for 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 started a trend for musicians to create the art for their own records. In 1973, when Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement with his comeback album, Thrasher shot candid photographs for 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 the US. Clark soon scored a #1 US hit with "Downtown
" and she enjoyed consistent chart success in the USA over the next four years with hits such as "My Love
", "I Know A Place
", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
", "This Is My Song
" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway
". Warner also released other Pye artists in the U.S. 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/protege relationship between 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 Los Angeles label Autumn Records
, founded by disc jockeys Tom Donahue
, Bobby Mitchell
and Sylvester Stewart (who later became famous as Sly Stone
). Waronker had been hired as 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—pianists Randy Newman
(a childhood friend), Leon Russell
and Van Dyke Parks
. Together they became the foundation of the creative circle that centred 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 Buffalo Springfield
although, much to his and Ostin's chagrin, the band was ultimately signed by Atlantic Records
, which was soon to be purchased by Warner Bros. Records.
In 1967 Warner Bros. took over Valiant Records
, and this added harmony pop group The Association
to the Warner roster. During the year the label also took its first tentative step into the burgeoning rock market, signing leading San Francisco psychedelic rock group The Grateful Dead. Warner Bros. threw the band a release party at the Fugazi Hall in San Francisco's North Beach. During 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 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 the Compo Company
. This was the origin of Warner Music Canada.
, a New York-based company owned by Elliot 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 a successful production partnership with noted British studio Hammer Films. Hyman's purchase of Jack 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
The newly merged group was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
(often referred to in 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 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 recordings, sight unseen, but he 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 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 WBR 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
and Van Morrison
and Joni Mitchell
(who signed to Reprise), whom Wickham successfully recommended to Ostin in his first week with the company. Over the next thirty years Wickham became one of WBR'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 WBR 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 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 Dead and critically acclaimed 'cult' performers like Newman and Parks, combined with the artistic freedom that 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 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 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 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 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 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 & 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 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 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 is co-credited with 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 the label, and Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith later described it as "the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves".
The 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 1969 when 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 Dead that they were heavily in debt to WBR 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, the band voluntarily changed the title to Live/Dead
.
Some of Warner Bros.' biggest commercial successes during this period were with "Sunshine Pop
" acts. Harpers Bizarre
scored a #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 a US #1 with "Windy
" and they reached #8 on the album chart with their first WBR album Insight Out. Their next single "Never My Love
" also topped the charts in autumn 1967 (#2 Billboard, #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 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 #4 on the US album chart. In 1968 Mason Williams
' instrumental composition "Classical Gas
" reached #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 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 prominently on many "Best Albums of All Time" lists and has remained in release almost continuously since 1968.
During 1968, using 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 rancour 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 the Ertegun brothers and Wexler between them 66,000 shares of Warner Bros.' common stock.
On 1 June 1968 Billboard announced that WBR's 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 that year to record for his own Tetragrammaton Records
label. Just over one month later (July 13) Billboard reported on a major re-organization 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 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 ASCAPs collections from music users.
, 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, recording and music publishing divisions with Kinney's multi-faceted holdings. Ross had started the company in the late 1950s while working in his family's funeral business—seeing the opportunity to use the company's cars, which were idle at night, he founded a successful hire car 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 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 an Australian subsidiary, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed a new four-year production and distribution deal with local label Festival Records
, without informing WBR.
During 1969 the rivalry between Mike Maitland and Ahmet Ertegun quickly escalated into an all-out executive battle, but Steve Ross favoured Ertegun and the conflict culminated in Maitland being dismissed from his position on 25 January 1970. He declined an offer of a job with Warner Bros. Pictures and left the company, subsequently becoming President of MCA Records
. Mo Ostin was appointed as president of Warner Bros. Records with Joe Smith as executive vice-president.
In July 1970 the Warner recording group acquired another prestige asset with the purchase of Jac Holzman's Elektra Records
for US$10 million. With three co-owned record companies, the next step was formation of the group's in-house distribution arm, initially called Kinney Records Distributing Corporation, to better control distribution of product and make sure records by breaking new acts are available.
Beginning in 1967 with the signing of The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros. Records steadily built up a diverse and prestigious lineup of rock and pop artists through the 1970s. Under the guidance of Edward West, Vice-President of Warner Bros. Records Inc in 1973 and its executives, A&R managers and staff producers, including Mo Ostin, Stan Cornyn, Lenny Waronker, Andy Wickham, Russ Titelman
and ex-Warner Bros. recording artist (with Harpers Bizarre) Ted Templeman
, sales grew streadily throughout the 1970s and by the end of the decade it had become one of the world's leading rock labels, with a star-studded roster that included Curved Air
, Fleetwood Mac
, James Taylor
, Van Morrison
, America
, Alice Cooper
, Van Halen
, The Doobie Brothers
, Little Feat
, Bonnie Raitt
, Seals & Crofts, Labelle
and Rickie Lee Jones
. This was augmented by lucrative licencing deals with American and international labels including Sire
, Vertigo
and Island Records
(1975–1982) that gave WBR the American distribution rights for leading British and European rock acts including Deep Purple
, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath
, Roxy Music
, King Crimson
and Kraftwerk
. Aided by the growth of FM radio and the album oriented rock format, LPs became the primary vehicle of Warner Bros. sales successes throughout the 1970s, although artists such as the Doobie Brothers and America also scored many major US and international hit singles.
One of the first Warner Bros. albums to achieve both critical and commercial success in the early 1970s was Van Morrison's third solo LP Moondance
(January 1970) which consolidated his distinctive blend of rock, jazz and R&B, earned glowing critical praise and sold well—it made the Top 40 album chart in both the US and the UK, the single "Come Running" was a US Top 40 hit (#39, Billboard) and the title track became a radio perennial. Like Astral Weeks, the LP still features prominently in many "Best Albums of All Time" listings and 40 years after its release it still ranks in the Top 20 in three major album sales categories on Amazon.com.
British group Black Sabbath
were signed to Philips Records
' progressive subsidiary Vertigo
, which Warner Bros. Records distributed in the USA; Deep Purple
were originally signed in the USA to the independent Tetragrammaton Records
, which was distributed by Warner Bros., who acquired the label after it folded in 1970. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album (recorded in just two days) reached #8 on the UK album chart, and #23 on the Billboard 200
, where it remained for over a year, selling strongly despite some negative reviews. It has since been certified platinum
in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry
(BPI). Sabbath's second album was to have been called War Pigs, but Warner Bros. Records changed the title to Paranoid
fearing a backlash by consumers. It was a Top 10 hit on the US album chart in 1971, and went on to sell four million copies in the US alone with virtually no radio airplay.
In 1971 UK-based pop rock
trio America
were signed to the recently established British division of Warner Bros. Their debut album, released late in the year, at first enjoyed only moderate success, but in early 1972 their single "A Horse With No Name" became a major international hit, reaching #1 in the US. Warner hastily reissued the album with the song included and it too became a huge hit, reaching #1 on the US album chart and eventually earning a platinum record award. Although criticised for their similarity to Neil Young
(indeed, rumours circulated around Hollywood that Young had cut the track anonymously), America scored five more US Top 10 singles over the next three years, including a second US #1 with "Sister Golden Hair
" in 1975. Their albums performed very strongly in the charts—each of their first seven LPs were US Top 40 albums, five of these made the Top 10 and all but one (Hat Trick
, 1973) achieved either gold or platinum status. Their 1975 Greatest Hits album became a perennial seller and is now accredited at 4x platinum.
In 1972, Dionne Warwick
was signed to Warner Bros. Records after leaving Scepter Records
in what was the biggest contract at the time for a female recording artist, although her five years at Warner Bros. were relatively unsuccessful in comparison to her spectacular hit-making tenure at Scepter.
After a slow start The Doobie Brothers
proved to be one of Warner Bros.' most successful signings. Their debut album made little impact but their second album Toulouse Street
(1972) reached #21 and spawned two US Top 40 singles, "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright
", inaugurating a string of hit albums and singles over the next five years. Their third album The Captain and Me
was even more successful, reaching #7 in the US and producing two more hit singles, "China Grove
" (#15) and "Long Train Runnin'" (#8); it became a consistent seller and is now accredited 2x Platinum by the RIAA. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
(1974) reached #4 and produced two more hits including their first US #1 single "Black Water" (1975). Stampede also reached #4, and producing another hit single with the Motown cover "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
" (US #11).
Warner Bros. Records' reputation for nurturing new artists was demonstrated by the career of Alice Cooper
(originally the name of the band, but later taken over as the stage name / persona of singer and main songwriter Vince Furnier). The Alice Cooper band recorded two unsuccessful albums for Frank Zappa
's Warner-distributed label Straight Records
before teaming with producer Bob Ezrin
, who became a longtime collaborator. Their third LP Love it to Death
(originally released on Straight and later reissued on Warner Bros.) reached #35 on the Billboard album chart and produced the hit single "I'm Eighteen
", which reached #21. Following the runaway success of their 1971 European tour Warner Bros. Records offered the band a multi-album contract; their first Warner Bros. album Killer sold well, with the single "Halo of Flies" making the Top 10 in the Netherlands, but it was their next album School's Out
(1972) that really put them on the map. The title song was a Top 10 hit in the US, reached #1 in the UK and became a radio staple, and the album went to #2 in the USA and sold more than a million copies. Billion Dollar Babies
(1973) became their biggest success, going to #1 in both the US and the UK. The follow-up Muscle of Love
(1973) was less successful, although the single "Teenage Lament '74" was a Top 20 hit in the UK. Furnier split from the band in 1974 and signed to Warner Bros.' sister label Atlantic as a solo artist, scoring further success with his solo albums and singles.
In 1973 Frank Zappa
and manager Herb Cohen
closed the Straight and Bizarre labels and established a new imprint, DiscReet Records
, retaining their distribution deal with Warner Bros. Zappa's next album Apostrophe (')
(1973) became the biggest commercial success of his career, reaching #10 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" was a minor hit and (at the time) his only single to make the Hot 100 chart. Zappa also enjoyed moderate commercial success with the live double LP Roxy and Elsewhere (1974) and his next studio LP One Size Fits All
(1975), both of which reached the Top 30 on the Billboard album chart.
WBR introduced a new label design for its LPs and singles in mid-1973. This design, which WBR would use until mid-1978, featured a multi-coloured, idealised view of a Burbank
street lined by palms and eucalypts, and titled with the slogan "Burbank, Home of Warner Bros. Records".
After several years as a 'cult' artist, Randy Newman achieved his first significant commercial success as a solo artist with his 1974 album Good Old Boys which made the Top 40. His controversial 1977 single "Short People
" was one of the surprise hits of the year, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 12, 1974 WBR and Phil Spector
established Warner-Spector Records
, but the label was short-lived and folded in 1977; most of its releases were reissues Philles Records
recordings from the 1960s and the only new material released was two singles by the disco group Calhoon and a single by Cher
.
In 1975 Joe Smith was promoted to become President of the combined Elektra/Asylum label. At this time Warner Bros. began to wind down the Reprise label. In 1976-77 almost all Reprise acts, including Fleetwood Mac
, Gordon Lightfoot
, Ry Cooder
and Michael Franks were transferred to Warner Bros, leaving only Neil Young
(who refused to move) and founder Frank Sinatra. Apart from these artists and some reissues, the Reprise label was dormant until it was reactivated in 1988.
By far the most successful of the Reprise acts who moved to Warner Bros. was Fleetwood Mac
, whose massive success firmly established Warner Bros. in the front rank of major labels—although few would have predicted it from the band's tumultuous history. Between 1970 and 1975 there were multiple lineup changes (with only two original members remaining by 1974), their album sales declined drastically, and a legal battle over the group's name kept them off the road for over a year. However, just as Fleetwood Mac was switching labels in 1975, it was re-invigorated by the recruitment of new members Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks
. The 'new' Fleetwood Mac scored a string of US and international hits and their self-titled Warner Bros. debut album was a huge success, reaching #1 in the US, charting for more than 30 weeks and selling more than 5 million copies. In 1977 their now-legendary Rumours took both group and label to even greater heights—it generated a string of international hit singles and became the most successful album in the label's history; it is currently ranked the 11th biggest selling album of all time and as of 2009 was estimated to have sold than 40 million copies.
After a string of albums with The Faces and as a solo artist for Mercury Records
in the early 1970s, British singer Rod Stewart
signed with Warner Bros. in 1974, applied for American citizenship and moved to the USA. Launching a sustained run of success, his Warner debut album Atlantic Crossing
(1975) was a major international success, reaching #9 on the Billboard album chart and #1 in Australia, and the single "I Don't Want to Talk About It" went to #1 in the UK. His second WBR album A Night on the Town (1976) went to #2 in the USA and #1 in Australia and produced three US Top 40 singles, including his first US #1 "Tonight's the Night
". Foot Loose & Fancy Free
(1977) reached #2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and #1 in Australia and again produced three US Top 40 singles, including "You're In My Heart", which reached #4. Blondes Have More Fun
(1978) went to #1 in the USA and Australia, and produced two more Top 40 singles including his second US #1, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (although Stewart and co-writer Carmine Appice
were later successfully sued for plagiarizing the song's catchy melody hook from "Taj Mahal" by Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben). Stewart's Greatest Hits
collection (1979) went to #1 in the UK and Australia, giving the singer a record-breaking five consecutive #1 albums in the latter country.
Warner Bros. Records also had unexpected success in the mid-70s with another 'heritage' act, veteran vocal group The Four Seasons. In early 1975 they signed with Curb Records
(which was distributed by WBR) just as lead singer Frankie Valli
scored a surprise hit with his independently released solo single "My Eyes Adored You
". Soon after, Valli and the Four Seasons burst back onto the charts with the disco-styled "Who Loves You
", which reached #3 in the US and sold more than a million copies, and the album Who Loves You
sold more than 1 million copies. Their next single "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
" topped the charts in both Britain and the US in early 1976, becoming the group's first US #1 since 1967. A remixed version was a hit again in 1994 and its total of 54 weeks in charts gives it the longest tenure of any song on the Billboard Hot 100.
By the time of The Doobie Brothers 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets founding member Tom Johnston had effectively left the band and he was replaced by former Steely Dan
session man Michael McDonald
, whose distinctive voice helped to propel the group to even greater success. The new album sold strongly, reaching #8 in the US, and the title track reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a perennial on radio playlists. Warner Bros. also released the massively successful Best of the Doobies
(1976), which has become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time and is currently accredited at 10x Platinum status. 1978's Minute by Minute
marked the peak of their career—both the album and its lead single "What A Fool Believes
" went to #1 in the US and the album's title track also made the US Top 20, although it was their last album with founding drummer John Hartman and longserving guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.
During the late 1970s Warner Bros.' reputation as the "artists first" label was challenged by a bitter and long-running dispute with Frank Zappa
. In 1976 Zappa split from manager Herb Cohen and started legal proceedings against him, but this stopped him from getting access to recordings he had made immediately prior to the suit, so for his new album Zoot Allures
he by-passed DiscReet and took his own copy of the master directly to Warner Bros., who released it on the Warner Bros. label. Zappa's relationship with Warner soon turned sour, however; he was contracted to deliver four more albums to Discreet/Warner and to fulfil this obligation he sequenced four new releases (a double live album and three studio albums) but Warner Bros. rejected the tapes and refused to reimburse Zappa for his production costs. Zappa then re-sequenced the material into an ambitious multi-LP set entitled Läther
which encapsulated all the facets of his music, ranging from straight-ahead rock songs to challenging avant garde orchestral pieces. Believing that Warner Bros. had breached their contract, he made an independent deal with Mercury-Phonogram for a Halloween 1977 release, but Warner Bros. then took legal action to prevent it. Infuriated, Zappa then made a special appearance on radio station KROQ-FM
in Pasadena, California, and hosted a broadcast of the entire album in sequence, during which he repeatedly criticized Warner Bros. and openly encouraged listeners to record the broadcast, resulting in numerous bootlegs. Warner Bros. then took further legal action against him, preventing him from issuing any new material for over a year. During the late 1970s, and against Zappa's wishes, Warner Bros. issued the disputed material (with little promotion) as the albums Zappa in New York
(an edited and censored version of the original live double album), Studio Tan
, Sleep Dirt
and Orchestral Favorites
. Ultimately though, Zappa emerged as the victor, winning back the rights to both his MGM-Verve recordings from the '60s and all the Straight/Bizarre/DiscReet/Warner Bros. material from the 1970s, but he remained trenchantly critical of his treatment by Warner Bros. for the rest of his life. All of Zappa's recordings were subsequently reissued through his own label Barking Pumpkin, including Läther
, which was posthumously released as a 3-CD set in 1996.
Ry Cooder's first Warner Bros. release was the 1977 live album Showtime and he remained with the label until his contract expired in the late 1980s. His 1979 album Bop 'Til You Drop is notable the first major-label rock recording to be digitally recorded and it became the best-selling album of his career.
Thanks to its distribution deal with Curb Records
, WBR scored the biggest hit single in the company's history in 1977. The ballad "You Light Up My Life
" (written and produced by Joe Brooks
) was originally recorded by the late Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which actress Didi Conn
lip-synched to Cisyk's recording. Teenager Debby Boone
(daughter of actor-singer Pat Boone
) was recruited to record a new version for single release, and this became a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting ten consecutive weeks and earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA. It became the most successful single of the 1970s in the United States, setting what was then a new record for longest run at #1 in the US and surpassing Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog
". Boone's success also earned her Grammy nominations for "Best Pop Vocal Performance Female" and "Record of the Year" and won her the 1977 Grammy for "Best New Artist" and the 1977 American Music Award for "Favorite Pop Single". The song also earned Joe Brooks the 1977 "Song of the Year" Grammy (tied with "Love Theme from "A Star Is Born" (Evergreen)") as well as "Best Original Song" at both the 1977 Golden Globe and Academy Awards. The single currently ranks at #7 on the Billboard All Time Hot 100.
Throughout the 1970s Warner Bros. also benefited from its US/Canada distribution deals with independent labels such as Straight Records
, DiscReet Records
, UK labels Chrysalis
(1972–1976) and Island
(1974–1982), Bizarre Records
, Bearsville Records
(1970–1984) and Geffen Records
(which was sold to MCA
in 1990).
Although primarily associated with mainstream 'white' acts in the Seventies, Warner Bros.' distribution deals with smaller labels also brought it some success in the disco, soul
and funk genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among the imprints it distributed that were notable in these fields were Seymour Stein's Sire Records
(which Warner Bros. soon purchased), Curtis Mayfield's Curtom
, Norman Whitfield
's Whitfield Records
, Quincy Jones
' Qwest
, Prince
's Paisley Park
, RFC Records (formed in December 1978 when Ray Caviano became the executive director of Warner's disco division), Tom Silverman
's Tommy Boy Records
(another label Warner Bros. eventually took over).
Until the late 1970s Warner Bros. itself still had very few African American music artists on its roster, but this began to change during with the singing of artists such as George Benson
and Prince
. Benson had risen to prominence in jazz in the 1960s but was still relatively little-known by the general public. However, his move to Warner Bros. in 1976 and the teaming with producer Tommy LiPuma
enabled him to straddle genres and made him a popular and highly successful mainstream R&B and pop artist. His first Warner Bros. LP Breezin'
(1976) became one of the most successful jazz albums of the decade and a major 'crossover' hit—it topped the American Pop, R&B and Jazz album charts and produced two hit singles, the title track (which became a jazz standard and a radio favourite) and "This Masquerade," which was a Top 10 pop and R&B hit. Benson enjoyed enormous success with his subsequent Warner albums. All of his Warner LPs made the Top 20 on the US jazz album chart and beginning with Breezin, he scored seven consecutive US #1 jazz albums; the first five of these were also Top 20 hits on both the Pop and R&B charts. His live version of Leiber & Stoller's "On Broadway" (from his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A.) outcharted the original version by The Drifters
, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gained further exposure thanks to its memorable use in the famous audition sequence in Bob Fosse
's 1979 film All That Jazz
. Benson's most successful single "Give Me The Night" (1980) became his first US #1 R&B hit, reached #4 on the Pop chart and also reached #2 on the Hot Disco Singles chart.
Precocious young Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Prince
signed to Warner Bros. in 1977. His first album For You
made little impact, although the single "Soft and Wet" reached #12 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, his second (self-titled) album (1979) fared considerably better, reaching #3 on the R&B album chart and earning a gold record award; the first single lifted from the album, "I Wanna Be Your Lover
" became Prince's first crossover hit, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #11 on the main pop chart, while the follow-up single "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" reached #13 on the R&B chart. Although he was still little known outside the USA at this stage, this early success set the stage for his major commercial breakthrough in the 1980s.
Another valuable late '70s discovery was metal-pop band Van Halen
, who were spotted at a Hollywood club by Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman in 1977. Their self-titled debut album was a notable success, reaching #19 on the Billboard album chart, and their second album Van Halen II
(1979) reached #6 and produced their first hit single "Dance the Night Away" (#19).
Warner Bros. also began to tentatively embrace the burgeoning New Wave
movement in the late 1970s, signing cult alternative bands Devo
and The B-52s. A crucial acquisition in this field—and one which would soon proved to be of enormous importance to the company—was the New York-based Sire Records
, founded in 1966 by Seymour Stein
and Richard Gottehrer
. Warner Bros. took over Sire's distribution from ABC Records
in 1977 and bought the label in 1978, retaining Stein as its president. The addition of the Sire roster gave Warner Bros. an important foothold in this area (indeed, Stein is often credited with naming the genre to replace the term "punk
", which he disliked); its American signings included The Ramones, The Dead Boys
, and Talking Heads
and most importantly of all, Madonna
, who soon became the most successful female artist in music history, earning billions for Warner. Sire's distribution deals with British independent labels including Mute
, Rough Trade
, Korova and Fiction
gave WEA the American rights to important UK-based New Wave bands including Depeche Mode
, The Smiths
, The Beat
, Madness
, Echo & the Bunnymen
and The Cure
. Into the 1990s, the label had continued success with Seal
, k.d. lang
, Tommy Page
, Ice-T
and Ministry
.
In the late '70s Warner Bros. also scored mainstream pop hits with singer/actor Shaun Cassidy
-- his version of "Da Doo Ron Ron" went to #1 in the US in 1977, his next two singles (both penned by Eric Carmen
) were US Top 10 hits and Cassidy was nominated for a Grammy award. As the decade drew to a close there were more breakthroughs with new acts. Rickie Lee Jones
' self-titled debut album went to #3 in the US, #1 in Australia and #18 in the UK and produced two hit singles, "Chuck E's in Love" (US #4) and "Young Blood" (US #40). Thanks to its American distribution deal with Vertigo, British group Dire Straits
provided another sustained run of hit albums and singles in the late 1970s and 1980s. Their eponymous debut album
(1978) was a surprise international hit, going to #2 in the USA and earning a gold record award from the RIAA, while the single "Sultans of Swing" went to #4 in the US. Their second album Communiqué (1979) made the Top 20 in many countries and earned another gold record award in the U.S. WBR also enjoyed renewed success with comedy recordings in this period, transferring Richard Pryor
from Reprise and signing rising star Steve Martin
, whose second Warner album A Wild and Crazy Guy
(1978) became one of the label's biggest comedy hits—it reached #2 on the pop album chart, won the 1979 Grammy for 'Best Comedy Album', and Martin's novelty single "King Tut" was a US Top 20 hit.
, whose self-titled debut album went to #6 in the US and produced four charting singles, including the #1 hit "Sailing". He also won five major categories at the 1981 Grammy Awards, becoming the only solo artist to date to win the "Big Four" awards in one year (Record, Song and Album of the Year, and Best New Artist) while his performance of "Arthur's Theme" from the Dudley Moore film Arthur
, which also went to #1, won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song.
Warner Bros. scored an apparent coup in 1980 by luring Paul Simon
away from Columbia Records
. His first Warner album was One Trick Pony
(1980), which accompanied the movie of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" was a major hit (#6) but the album was not a big seller. His next album Hearts and Bones
(1983) was well received by critics but neither it nor the lead single "Allergies" made the chart and Simon's career took a nosedive and it was several more years before the label's patience eventually paid off.
After two moderate-selling albums that established them as one of the most original American New Wave
bands of the period, DEVO
broke through to mainstream success in 1980 with their third album Freedom of Choice
which reached #22 in the US. Thanks to its quirky music video
, which was put on high rotation on MTV
, the single "Whip It" reached #14 on the Billboard pop chart, becoming the group's biggest American hit. Their follow-up EP DEV-O Live
(1981) was a surprise hit in Australia, topping the singles chart there for three weeks, but their subsequent albums and singles suffered from declining sales and the group was eventually dropped by the label after their 1984 album Shout
.
Prince
's 1980 album Dirty Mind
was widely praised by critics, earning a gold record award, but his 1982 double-LP 1999
(1982) became his first major hit album, selling over three million copies and spawning three hit singles. The title track reached #12 in the US and provided his first international hit (#25 UK) and his next two singles, "Little Red Corvette
" and "Delirious", were both US Top 10 hits.
Chicago
were picked up by Warner Bros. in 1981 after being dropped by their former label Columbia
, who believed the band was no longer commercially viable. After teaming with producer David Foster
, they shot back into the charts in 1982 with the album Chicago 16
, which reached #9 and produced two hit singles including the US #1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry
". Their second Warner album, Chicago 17
, became the biggest seller of their career—it reached #4 in the US and produced four US Top 20 singles including the Top 5 hits "Hard Habit to Break" (#3) and "You're the Inspiration" (#3) and is currently accredited at 6× Platinum. Lead singer Peter Cetera
left the group after this album but had continued success as a solo artist for Warner, scoring a #1 hit in 1986 with "The Glory of Love" (from the movie The Karate Kid), which also won a Grammy Award. His second solo album sold more than a million copies and produced another #1 hit, "The Next Time I Fall
". His third solo album produced the Top 5 hit "One Good Woman
" (1988) and "After All
" reached #6.
After the end of his contract with RSO Records
and Polydor, Eric Clapton
signed to Warner Bros. in 1982. His first WBR album, Money and Cigarettes
(1983), reached #16 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "I've Got A Rock'N'Roll Heart" reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next album Behind the Sun
also fared well, reaching #34 and the hit single "Forever Man" went to #26, but he transferred to Reprise for his next release.
Another resurgent 1970s act who scored major success with Warner Bros. in this period was ZZ Top
, who had previously been signed to London Records
. During an extended break in the late '70s the group gained ownership of their London recordings and signed with Warner Bros, who also re-issued their back-catalogue. Their first two Warner albums Deguello
(1979) and El Loco
(1981) were moderately successful, but Eliminator (1983) became a major hit thanks to strong support for their music videos on MTV
. They scored three US hit singles including "Legs" (US #8), while the album reached #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold in huge numbers, earning a Diamond record award in 1996. Afterburner
(1985) went to #4 and produced seven hit singles, including "Sleeping Bag" (#8).
Sire artist Madonna
shot to international prominence with her 1983 self-titled debut album and her first mainstream hit single "Holiday
", which reached #16 in the US and became a hit in many other countries, including Australia and the UK, where it was Top 5. The album made the Top 20 in more than a dozen countries including the USA, where it has been certified at 5× Platinum status. It was quickly followed by Like A Virgin
, which became her first US #1 album and was sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. The title track was also a huge international hit, going to #1 in Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA. Boosted by her well-received role in the film Desperately Seeking Susan
, "Crazy For You
" (1985) became her second US #1 hit, and the follow-up Material Girl
reached #2 in the USA and was Top 5 in many other countries.
Prince's hugely successful 1984 film and album Purple Rain
cemented his stardom, selling more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spending twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, while the Purple Rain
film won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song Score" and grossed more than $80 million in the US. Singles from the album became hits on pop charts around the world; "When Doves Cry
" and "Let's Go Crazy
" both reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the sexually explicit album track "Darling Nikki
" generated a major controversy that had lasting effects—when politician's wife Tipper Gore
heard her 12-year-old daughter listening to the song and investigated the lyrics, her outrage led to the formation of the conservative lobby group Parents Music Resource Center
. Their stance was vehemently opposed by former Warner Bros. artist Frank Zappa
and others, but the PMRC's political clout eventually forced the US recording industry to adopt the compulsory practice of placing a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker on records deemed to contain "offensive" content.
1984 also saw Van Halen break into the big league with the single "Jump
" (their only US #1 hit) and the album 1984
; it was a huge seller (earning Diamond album status in 1999) and reached #2 in the US, producing two more Top 20 hits. However, escalating friction between guitarist Eddie Van Halen
and lead singer David Lee Roth
reached breaking point soon after the album's release and Roth left the band, to be replaced by Sammy Hagar
; 1984 was also the last time they worked with Ted Templeman
, who had produced all their albums up to this point.
In 1985 Dire Straits' single "Money for Nothing
" gained massive exposure on MTV thanks to its innovative computer-animated music video
, propelling the single to #1 in the US. They scored two more US Top 20 hits with "Walk of Life
" and "So Far Away
" and the album Brothers in Arms
was a phenomenal success—it went to #1 in the USA, Australia and most European countries and sold in colossal numbers—by 1996 it had been certified at 9× platinum in the USA and it is currently ranked at #25 in the list of best-selling albums of all time, with sales of more than 30 million copies worldwide.
The new incarnation of Van Halen bounced back in 1986, releasing the enormously successful 5150
album which went to #1 and produced two hit singles, "Why Can't This Be Love" (US #3) and "Dreams" (#22). Their four subsequent studio albums all reached #1 and the band scored 17 US Top 20 singles, including 1988's "When It's Love" (US #5), but their overall sales gradually declined, with each album selling less than its predecessor.
The same was true of Prince—he scored numerous hit albums and singles through the latter half of the 1980s, but his record sales declined and Warner Bros. executives became increasingly concerned that he was producing far more material than they could release. His image was also tarnished by the failure of his later film ventures, his embarrassing refusal to participate in the recording of "We Are The World
" and his sacking of guitarist Wendy Melvoin
and long-serving keyboard player Lisa Coleman
. The 1985 album Around the World in a Day
held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks and peaked at #5 in the UK. Parade (1986) served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film Under the Cherry Moon
; although the movie was a critical and commercial failure, the album peaked at #3 in Billboard and #2 on the R&B album charts and his classic single "Kiss" was another big international hit, going to #1 in the US and becoming a radio staple.
Prince's next project had a long and complex evolution, beginning as a proposed concept double-album called Dream Factory
; Prince then proposed a solo LP which he intended to issue under the pseudonym Camille, but he eventually combined elements from both to create the ambitious three-album set Crystal Ball
. However, because of the relatively lower sales of his previous albums, Prince's manager Steve Fargnoli and Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin both doubted the commercial viability of releasing a 3-LP set, and after previewing Crystal Ball Ostin insisted that Prince pare it down to two records. Prince at first refused and a battle of wills ensued for several weeks, but he eventually backed down and removed seven tracks; the resulting double-album was released in March 1987 as Sign "☮" the Times. Despite Prince's bitterness over its forced reduction, it was very successful, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and selling 3.2 million copies, while the title single "Sign O' The Times" reached #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single "If I Was Your Girlfriend" flopped (although it went to #12 on R&B chart) but he scored big hits with the next two singles, "U Got the Look" (#2 Hot 100, #11 R&B) and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (#10 Hot 100, #14 R&B).
1986–87 took Warner Bros. to even greater heights. Madonna's landmark album True Blue produced three US #1s and two Top 5 singles and the LP was an unprecedented success, topping the charts in more than 28 countries (a feat that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records), and to date it has sold 24 million copies. After several years in the doldrums, a reinvigorated Paul Simon burst back onto the music scene in late 1986 with Graceland
. Warner Bros. were initially anxious about the commercial appeal of Simon's innovative fusion of rock with African styles but the album was a resounding success, topping the charts in many countries, reaching #3 in the US and producing two US Top 20 singles. It became the best-selling American album of 1987 and the most successful of Simon's solo career, selling more than 5 million copies, and winning the 1986 Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; the title track also won 'Song of the Year' in 1987. In jazz Warner Bros. scored another artistic coup by signing jazz legend Miles Davis
after his break with longtime label Columbia. His comeback album Tutu
(1986) was a major crossover hit, gaining rave reviews and winning a Grammy in 1987.
In the summer of 1986 Warner Bros. announced the reactivation of Reprise Records with its own separate promotions department, and former Warner Bros. Vice President of Promotion Richard Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice President.
During 1987 Prince recorded a pared-down funk LP, The Black Album, but he withdrew it in December just before it was to be released (even though 500,000 copies had been printed). Its hastily recorded replacement Lovesexy
(1988) was a moderate success, reaching #11 on the Billboard album chart although it reached #1 in the UK. However, he rebounded in 1989 with the soundtrack for the hugely successful Batman
film, which sold more than four million copies, reached #1 on the Billboard album chart and produced four hit singles including "Batdance", which topped both the Hot 100 and R&B charts.
Like fellow Athens, Georgia
natives The B-52s, R.E.M.
was a 'cult' band who gradually built up a strong following in the USA and internationally during the 1980s (thanks in part to their innovative music videos). For most of the '80s they were signed to the independent label IRS Records and in 1987 they broke out to mainstream success with the album Document
, their first to sell more than one million copies. However, they were frustrated by IRS's poor international distribution and when their IRS contract expired in 1988 they signed with Warner Bros. Their Warner debut Green established them as a major force, earning a platinum album and selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, and "Stand" became their first US hit single.
Lenny Waronker took over as President of WBR in 1989, and his first act was to sign Elvis Costello
. Costello's first Warner album Spike
featured his biggest American single, the Paul McCartney
collaboration "Veronica", which was a US Top 20 hit. He recorded three more critically praised albums for Warner Bros., Mighty Like A Rose
, Brutal Youth, and All This Useless Beauty
, but he was dropped from the label after the major corporate shakeup in the mid-90s.
The same year, after an extended period of inactivity following the death of guitarist and main writer Ricky Wilson
, The B-52s shot back to prominence with the album Cosmic Thing
. It was a Top 5 hit in the USA (#4) and the UK (#2) and went to #1 in Australia, where the group had enjoyed a strong following since their debut single "Rock Lobster
"; they also scored three consecutive hit singles with "Love Shack
" (#3 US, #1 Australia), "Roam" (US #3) and "Deadbeat Club" (US #30).
Warner Bros' most successful decade yet closed in sensational fashion. In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi
, who introduced her new single "Like a Prayer" in the lavish "Make A Wish" commercial—the first time a pop single had debuted in an advertisement and the first time such a commercial was given a worldwide satellite premiere. However Pepsi had no control over Madonna's own "Like A Prayer" music video, which debuted exclusively on MTV soon after—it generated heated criticism due to its provocative use of religious imagery and was condemned by the Vatican
. As a result, Pepsi withdrew the advertisement and canceled the endorsement deal—although Madonna was allowed to retain her US$5 million fee—but the controversy only heightened interest in the single and the album (also titled Like A Prayer). The single became Madonna's seventh US #1 and topped the chart in more than 30 other countries, and the album also went to #1, sold seven million copies worldwide and produced two more US Top 5 singles, establishing Madonna as the most successful female artist of the '80s and one of the most successful musical performers of all time.
acquired Warner Communications and merged the two enterprises to create Time Warner
in a deal valued at US$14 billion.
After a long period of relative stability that was notable in the cutthroat American music industry, the death of Steve Ross in late 1992 marked the start of a period of major upheaval at Warner Bros. Records.
R.E.M.'s second Warner album Out of Time
(1991) consolidated their success, topping the charts in both the US and the UK and producing two major hit singles: "Losing My Religion
" became their biggest American single (#4 on Billboard Hot 100) and a hit in numerous other countries, and "Shiny Happy People
", a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK,; the group also won three categories at that year's Grammy Awards.
Prince's fortunes in the Nineties were mixed; he scored more hits and renewed his contract in 1992, but his relationship with Warner Bros. Records soon soured, climaxing in a highly publicized legal battle and his eventual departure from the label. Although his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge
was panned by critics and bombed at the box office the album of the same name was very successful—it reached #6 on both the Billboard Hot 200 and R&B album chart and produced two US Top 20 singles. Diamonds and Pearls
(1991) became one of the biggest albums of his career, reaching #3 in the USA, #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia, with five of the six singles lifted from the album becoming hits in the US and other countries, including "Cream", which became his fifth US #1.
Prince was appointed a vice-president of Warner Bros. Records when he re-signed with them in 1992, but soon regretted his decision. His next album—identified by the cryptic symbol on the cover later defined as "The Love Symbol" -- was another solid hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 and selling 2.8 million copies worldwide, but by now tensions were increasing. Warner Bros. wanted to release "7
" as his next single, but Prince successfully pushed for "My Name Is Prince
" and it was only a minor hit (#36 Hot 100, #23 R&B ); the follow-up "Sexy MF" was censored in the US because of the expletive in the chorus and did not even make the US Top 50 although it was a Top 5 hit in the UK and Australia. When eventually released, "7" became the only major US hit lifted from the album, peaking (appropriately) at #7.
Following the 3-disc compilation The Hits/The B-Sides
(1993), Prince stopped using his first name and started using only with the "Love Symbol" -- a decision that drew considerable ridicule from the media. Because this sign has no verbal equivalent, he was often derisively referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". By 1994, relations between The Artist and his record label had reached an impasse—in February WEA cancelled its distribution deal with Paisley Park
, effectively putting the label out of business. Although released by an independent distributor, his next single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" reached #3 in the U.S. and topped the singles charts in the UK and Australia.
Prince had meanwhile prepared two new albums, Come and The Gold Experience; an early version of Come was rejected but Warner Bros. eventually accepted both albums, although they refused to issue them simultaneously. By this time Prince had launched a legal action to terminate his contract and gain ownership of his master recordings, and he publicised his views by appearing in public with the word "SLAVE" written across his right cheek. Come (1994) was moderately successful in the USA (#15, gold record) and the single "Letitgo
" reached #10 on the R&B chart, although the album was a major hit in the UK, debuting at #1. In November Warner released a limited edition of The Black Album, but it was already widely bootlegged, sold poorly and was soon deleted. The Gold Experience
(1995) was hailed by some reviewers as Prince's best effort since Sign o' the Times; it included "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and produced two other charting singles, "I Hate U
" (US #11 and "Gold" UK #10). Prince's remarkable career with Warner Bros. ended with Chaos and Disorder
(1996), compiled expressly to end his contract. It was one of his least successful releases but still managed to reach #26 in the USA and #14 in the UK and produced one minor hit, "Dinner With Delores" (#36 UK). Prince subsequently released recordings on his own NPG label (via EMI
) before eventually signing with Universal Music in 2005.
R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People
(1992) cemented their status as one of the top bands of the period and was the most successful album of their career, reaching #1 in the UK and #2 in the US, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and generating three US hit singles, "Drive
", "Man on the Moon
", and "Everybody Hurts
".
During 1992 WBR faced one of the most serious controversies in its history over the provocative recording "Cop Killer
" from the self-titled album by Body Count
, a heavy metal
/rap
fusion band led by Ice-T
. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the song (which mentions the Rodney King
case) came out just before the controversial acquittal of the police charged with King's beating, which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
and the confluence of events put the song under the national spotlight. Complaints escalated over the summer—conservative police associations called for a boycott of Time Warner products, politicians including President George W. Bush denounced the label for releasing the song, Warner executives received death threats, Time Warner stockholders threatened to pull out of the company and the New Zealand police commissioner unsuccessfully tried to have the record banned there. Although Ice-T later voluntarily reissued Body Count without "Cop Killer", the furore seriously rattled Warner Music and in January 1993 WBR made an undisclosed deal releasing Ice-T from his contract and returning the Body Count
master tapes to him. In the wake of the "Cop Killer" affair, Warner Bros. distanced itself from gangsta rap
and in late 1995 it sold its 50% stake in Interscope Records
and its controversial subsidiary Death Row Records
(Tupac Shakur
, Snoop Dogg
) back to co-owners Jimmy Iovine
and Ted Field. Iovine and Field quickly aligned Interscope with the Universal Music Group
; the label, now known as Interscope-Geffen-A&M
following the merger of several Universal imprints, is still run by Iovine today.
Some relief came later that year when comedian Jeff Foxworthy
revived Warner Bros.' success with comedy recordings; his debut album You Might Be a Redneck If... was a major hit in the US and Canada, and both it and his follow-up album sold more than three million copies each.
. In September 1993 Ostin began negotiations to renew his contract and it was at this point that Morgado unveiled his plan for major a corporate shakeup of the Warner group. This triggered a series of damaging corporate conflicts and in particular created a fatal rift between Morgado and Ostin. The first major casualty was Elektra chairman Bob Krasnow
, who resigned abruptly in July 1994.
For many years Ostin had reported directly to Time Warner chairman Steve Ross (and then to Ross's successor Gerald Levin) but Morgado now insisted that Ostin should report to him, and he established a new division, Warner Music US, headed by Doug Morris
, to oversee the three main record labels. Fearing the loss of autonomy and worried that he would be obliged to implement Morgado's "slash-and-burn" policy to streamline the label's staff and artist roster, he refused to carry out Morgado's orders and decided not to renew his contract. Ostin officially stepped down from Warner Bros. when his contract expired on 31 December 1994, although he stayed on as a senior consultant to Time Warner's chairman until August 1995. He later commented:
Ostin's departure sent shockwaves through the company and the industry, and elicited glowing tributes from colleagues and competitors like Joe Smith and Clive Davis
, and musicians like Paul Simon
and R.E.M.
. It also triggered an exodus of Warner executives who had joined the company primarily because of Ostin. Next to go was Lenny Waronker—he was initially designated to succeed Ostin as chairman but he ultimately declined the job and left WBR soon after. After a period of uncertainty and speculation, the two joined forces to establish a new label, DreamWorks Records
. Waronker was replaced by ex Atlantic Records president Danny Goldberg, but his tenure proved short. Long-serving WBR executive Russ Thyret, who had joined the label in 1971 and worked closely with Mo Ostin for many years, was promoted to Vice-Chairman in January 1995.
Gerald Levin forced Morgado to resign in May 1995 and he was replaced by HBO
chairman Michael J. Fuchs
. Fuchs sacked Morris a month later (sparking a US$50m breach of contract suit) and Warner Music US was dissolved. Morris' removal led to speculation that Ostin was being courted to return to WBR, but these reports proved unfounded, since Ostin and Waronker moved to DreamWorks soon after. Morris moved to MCA Records
.
Despite his close ties to Morris, Danny Goldberg was initially told he could remain as WBR president but he left the company in August 1995 after negotiating a settlement with Time Warner to terminate his five-year, US$20 million contract, which still had four years to run. He was subsequently appointed president of Polygram subsidiary Mercury Records
in October. Following Goldberg's departure Russ Thyret was promoted to Chairman, CEO and label president. Fuchs himself was forced out of Time Warner on November 1995. In May 1997 Phil Quartararo took over as president of WBR, only weeks after he had left EMI's Virgin Records
following a management shake-up there.
The departure of the team led by Ostin and Waronker also meant that many of the Warner artists whose careers they had nurtured and curated over the previous 30 years were now deprived of their patronage. As a result, by the year 2000 many of the "flagship" Warner acts of the Ostin/Waronker years left the label as their contracts expired. Ry Cooder was dropped in 1995 and Randy Newman followed Ostin and Waronker to DreamWorks, departing with a wry comment on his own status and the recent turmoil at Warner Bros:
Although never rising beyond "cult" status in terms of his sales as a solo artist, one of the most notable survivors from the Ostin era was Van Dyke Parks, who continued to release albums on Warners Bros - Tokyo Rose
(1989), the Brian Wilson
collaboration Orange Crate Art
(1995) and the live album Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove
(1998). In 2004 Parks reunited with Brian Wilson to complete their long-shelved collaboration, Smile
, which was released on the Nonesuch label to universal critical praise, winning a Grammy award, and making the Top 20 in the US and Top 10 in the UK, where it earned a gold record award.
In early 2001 there was a major restructure of the Warner Music Group; about 600 positions were eliminated across the three labels, and an executive reshuffle led to the departures of Thyret and Quartararo (as well as Reprise president Howie Klein) and the hiring of then-Interscope
president Tom Whalley as head of Warner Bros. Records. In August Whalley appointed Jeff Ayeroff as Creative Director of Warner Bros. Records and Creative Consultant to Warner Music Group. Ayeroff had previously been WBR's Senior Vice-President and Creative Director from 1983–86, overseeing many successful album covers and music videos in that period.
, Time Warner decided to unload its music operations. In March 2004, Time Warner's music assets were acquired by private equity group headed by Thomas H. Lee Partners
, Lexa Partners (led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., who put up US$150 million drawn from his family's stake in Vivendi
), Bain Capital
and Providence Equity Partners
. The deal set the group's value at around US$2.6 billion, payable in cash and other considerations, and it included an option that would allow Time Warner to buy back in if conditions proved favorable. Bronfman, Lee, Bain and Providence had reportedly recouped their investment by May 2006 through dividends, refinancing and a share offer floated in May 2005.
Today Warner Bros. Records remains one of Warner Music Group's dominant labels, with around 120 artists on its roster.
Despite the divestiture, WMG currently enjoys a royalty-free license from Time Warner for the use of Warner Bros. trademarks, although this could be revoked if WMG comes under control of a major motion picture studio.
In 2006 the Warner Music Group signed a licensing and revenue-sharing deal with internet video service YouTube
. According to a New York Times report, this reflected ongoing efforts by YouTube to deal with the fact that many of its user-generated video clips include copyrighted music and images sourced from commercial TV and film productions. Under the agreement, YouTube would use special software to identify recordings used in videos posted by users and then offer the owner of the copyrighted content a percentage of the fee for advertising that would run alongside the clip. The deal also allowed the copyright owner to demand that YouTube remove the clip.
In October 2007 Madonna ended her 25-year association with Sire and Warner Bros., becoming the inaugural artist on a new label established by American concert promoter Live Nation
. Under the terms of the new US$120 million, 10-year contract, which Warner was unable to match, Madonna reportedly received a signing bonus of about US$18 million and an approximate US$17 million advance for each of three albums, with Live Nation also agreeing to pay US$50 million in cash and stock to promote each Madonna tour.
American Idol
judge Kara DioGuardi
was appointed to vice president of A&R
in 2008.
In February 2010 Madonna’s long-serving publicist Liz Rosenberg
, a 39-year veteran of WBR, left the label to start her own firm.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, although the two companies are independently owned. Rob Cavallo
Rob Cavallo
Rob Cavallo is a record producer and A&R, most famous for signing and producing Green Day. He is currently Chairman of Warner Bros. Records.- History :...
currently serves as Chairman of the company.
Introduction
Warner Bros. Records was originally established in 1958 as the recorded music division of the American movie studio Warner Bros. PicturesWarner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. For most of its existence it was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the industry to become one of the top recording labels in the world.
In 2003 these music assets were divested by their then owner Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
and purchased by a private equity group. This independent company currently trades as the Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
(WMG), of which Warner Bros. Records is still an active label. WMG is currently the third-largest of the four major international music conglomerates and the world's only publicly traded major music company. The group's extensive publishing assets, which include over one million song copyrights by more than 65,000 songwriters, currently make it the world's largest music publisher.
Origins
At the end of the silent movieSilent Movie
Silent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
era 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—including M. Witmark & Sons
M. Witmark & Sons
M. Witmark & Sons was a leading publisher of sheet music for the United States "Tin Pan Alley" music industry.The firm of Marcus Witmark & Sons was established in New York City in 1886...
, Remick Music Corp., 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
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
by George
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
and Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin
Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
and Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
and the new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$2 million annually.
In 1930 MPHC paid US$28 million to acquire Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
, whose roster included Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
, Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
, Earl Burtnett
Earl Burtnett
Earl Burtnett was an American bandleader, songwriter and pianist who was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.-Life and career:...
, Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman
Abe Lyman was a popular bandleader from the 1920s to the 1940s. He made recordings, appeared in films and provided the music for numerous radio shows, including Your Hit Parade....
, Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
, Tampa Red
Tampa Red
Tampa Red , born Hudson Woodbridge but known from childhood as Hudson Whittaker, was an American Chicago blues musician....
and Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
, and soon after the sale to Warner Bros., the label signed rising radio and recording stars Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Mills Brothers
Mills Brothers
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as The Four Mills Brothers, were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records...
, and Boswell Sisters
Boswell Sisters
The Boswell Sisters were a close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters Martha Boswell , Connee Boswell , and Helvetia "Vet" Boswell , noted for intricate harmonies and rhythmic experimentation...
. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the dual impact of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and the introduction of broadcast radio decimated the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million units in 1927 to less than 10 million by 1932 and major companies were forced to halve the price of records from 75c to 35c. In December 1931, Warner Bros. offloaded Brunswick to the American Record Corporation
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
(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 the Columbia label, reverted back to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. sold Brunswick (along with Brunswick's back catalog up to 1931) to Decca along with the old Brunswick pressing plants Warner owned to Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
(which formed its American operations in 1934) in exchange for a financial interest in Decca. Mainly due to Starr's considerable influence over Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
, the studio stayed out of the record business for more than 25 years, and during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums.
1958-1963: formation and early years
Warner Bros. re-entered the record business in 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 the introduction of televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
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; Warner Bros. Pictures sold off much of its movie library in 1948 (although, ironically, Time Warner's 1996 takeover of Turner Broadcasting returned most of the Warner archive to the company) and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the US government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains.
In 1956 Harry Warner
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three brothers Warner played a crucial role in the film business and played a key role in establishing Warner Bros...
and Albert Warner
Albert Warner
Aaron "Albert" Warner was a Polish-born American film executive who was one of the founders of Warner Bros. Studios. He established the production studio with his brothers Harry, Sam, and Jack Warner...
sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favoured a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko
Serge Semenenko
Serge Semenenko was an innovative Ukrainian-born Hollywood banker in the 1950s and 1960s, representing the First National Bank of Boston. In 1956 he was part of a group of investors who bought out the shares in Warner Bros...
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 the record business booming—sales had topped US$500 million by 1958—Semenenko 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 the label's creation was the brief music career of Warner Bros. actor Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.-Background:...
. 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
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label and company that was active between 1950 and 1977. It was founded by Randy Wood. In Gallatin, Tennessee, Wood had earlier started a mail order record shop, known for its radio ads on WLAC in Nashville and its R&B air personality Bill "Hoss" Allen...
, since Warner Bros. had no label of its own at the time. Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the U.S. #1 single "Young Love" (1957), and to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were primarily asking about the hit record, rather than Hunter's latest Warner movie. In 1958 the studio signed Hunter 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
Imperial Records
Imperial Records is a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI.- The independent and Liberty Records years :...
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 the label the company hired former Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
president James B. Conkling; its founding directors of A&R were Harris Ashburn, George Avakian
George Avakian
George Avakian is an American record producer and executive known particularly for his work with Columbia Records, and his production of albums by Miles Davis and other notable jazz musicians....
and Bob Prince
Bob Prince
Robert Ferris Prince was an American radio and television sportscaster and commentator best known for his 28-year stint as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball club, with whom he earned the nickname “The Gunner” and became a cultural icon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Prince was...
. 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
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., known variously as The Recording Academy or NARAS, is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its...
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 19 March 1958; its original office was located above the film studio's machine shop at 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank, California. Its early album releases (1958–1960) were aimed at the upscale end of 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:
- vocal albums by Warner contract players such as Tab Hunter, Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens, Jack WebbJack WebbJohn Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
and William HoldenWilliam HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974... - novelty/comedy albums by artists such as Spike JonesSpike JonesMel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
and Bob NewhartBob NewhartGeorge Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide... - film soundtracks and collections of film and TV themes
- 'middle of the road' instrumental albums by artists including Matty MatlockMatty MatlockJulian Clifton "Matty" Matlock was an American Dixieland jazz clarinettist, saxophonist and arranger born in Paducah, Kentucky...
, Buddy ColeBuddy Cole (musician)Edwin LeMar Cole, known as Buddy Cole , was a jazz pianist and orchestra leader. He played behind a number of pop singers, including Rosemary Clooney, Jill Corey, and The Four Lads, who recorded for Columbia Records.-Biography:Buddy Cole was born in Irving, Illinois, and started his musical career...
, Henry ManciniHenry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, George GreeleyGeorge GreeleyGeorge Greeley was an American pianist, conductor, composer, and arranger, recording artist and record producer who is known for his extensive work in film and television....
, Warren BarkerWarren BarkerWarren Barker was an American composer known for work in film, radio, and television. He also worked in Las Vegas, Nevada clubs...
and "Ira Ironstrings" (a pseudonym for guitarist Alvino ReyAlvino ReyAlvin McBurney , known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American swing era musician and pioneer, often credited as the father of the pedal steel guitar...
, Conkling's brother-in-law, who was in fact under contract to Columbia Records at the time).
Some albums featured jokey or self-deprecating titles such as:
- Music for People with $3.98 (Plus Tax If Any),
- Terribly Sophisticated Songs: A Collection of Unpopular Songs for Popular People,
- Songs the Kids Brought Home from Camp
- Don't Put Your Empties on the Piano and
- But You've Never Heard Gershwin With Bongos.
Almost all were commercial failures; and the only charting album in Warner Bros.' first two years was Warren Barker's 'soundtrack' album for the studio's hit series 77 Sunset Strip, which reached #3 in 1959. Tab Hunter's "Jealous Heart" (WB 5008), which reached #62, was Warner Bros. only charting single during its first year.
Early Warner Bros. singles had distinctive red labels, with the WB logo to the side and a number of different-colored arrows surrounding and pointing at the center hole. The first hit was the novelty record "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)", which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It was nominally performed by Warner contract actor Edd Byrnes, who played the wisecracking hipster
Hipster (1940s subculture)
Hipster, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic...
character Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III on Warner's TV detective series 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
. The story behind the recording illustrates the sharp practices often employed by major recording companies. Actress and singer Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:...
(who appeared in the Warner TV series Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
) sang the song's chorus, but although her record contract entitled her to a 5 percent royalty rate, the label arbitrarily defined her contribution to be a favour 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 was not published by MPHC, and they also prevented her from singing it on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, 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 Frederick Dannen reports that the only reason it was not closed down 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, who still loathed the record business; 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
Bill Haley
Bill Haley was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song "Rock Around the Clock".-Early life and career:...
, was by then past his prime and failed to score any hits. The label was more fortunate with its next signing, The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, whom Warner Bros. secured after the end of their previous contract with Cadence Records
Cadence Records
Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952...
. In an uncharacteristically bold move, 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 the industry standard of the day. Luckily the Everlys' first Warner Bros. single, "Cathy's Clown
Cathy's Clown
"Cathy's Clown" is a popular song, written and recorded by The Everly Brothers, in which an unnamed narrator informs Cathy that he "don't want your love anymore." It was their first single for Warner Bros., after spending three years on Archie Bleyer's Cadence label. "Cathy's Clown" sold eight...
" was a smash hit, going to #1 in the U.S. and selling more than eight million copies, and their debut Warner Bros. album It's Everly Time
It's Everly Time
It's Everly Time is an album by the rock and roll duo The Everly Brothers, released in 1960. It peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Pop albums chart. It's Everly Time was their first album on Warner Bros. after leaving the independent label Cadence....
reached #9 on the album chart.
In 1959 Warner Bros. had signed rising standup comedian Bob Newhart
Bob Newhart
George Robert Newhart , known professionally as Bob Newhart, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery, Newhart came to prominence in the 1960s when his album of comedic monologues The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart was a worldwide...
, 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 the success of "Cathy's Clown", Newhart's debut album The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart is a 1960 live album by comedian Bob Newhart. The debut album by Newhart, the album was number one on the Billboard Pop Album chart, topping an album by Elvis Presley and the cast album of The Sound of Music....
went straight to #1 in the U.S., 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 1961 Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards of 1961
The third Grammy Awards were held on April 13, 1961. They recognized musical accomplishments by the performers for the year 1960. Bob Newhart and Henry Mancini each won three awards.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
-- he won Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
for Button-Down Mind, his quickly released follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back (1960) won the Best Comedy Performance - Spoken Word
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album was awarded from yearly 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to present day. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1967 it was Best Comedy Performance...
category and Newhart himself won Best New Artist
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967...
-- 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'.
New staff joined the label in late 1961—Jim Conkling retired in the fall of that year, selecting as his successor John K. (Mike) Maitland, a former Capitol executive, with Joe Smith appointed as head of promotions. Warner Bros. made another prescient signing in folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio had been on 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
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
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 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
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Grossman bought out Dylan's previous contract with Leeds Music and signed the then unknown singer-songwriter to Witmark for an advance of $5000. Two years later in 1963, Peter, Paul and 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 was later emulated by other leading artist managers such as David Geffen
David Geffen
David Geffen is an American record executive, film producer, theatrical producer and philanthropist. Geffen is noted for creating Asylum Records in 1970, Geffen Records in 1980, and DGC Records in 1990...
.
Meanwhile, the label enjoyed further success with comedy recordings. Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
's LP My Son, the Folk Singer
My Son, the Folk Singer
My Son, the Folk Singer is an album by Allan Sherman [monophonic W-1475/stereophonic WS-1475], released by Warner Bros. Records in 1962. On the album sleeve, the title appears directly below the words "Allan Sherman's mother presents."- Side One :...
, which satirised the folk boom, became a huge hit, selling over a million copies. Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
broke through soon after and he continued 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, Peter, Paul & Mary and Allan Sherman, and Warner Bros. Records ended the financial year 1961-62 in the black for the first time since its foundation.
Warner/Reprise 1963-67
In August 1963 Warner Bros. made a "rescue takeover" of Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
's ailing Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
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 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 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 the hits by Sinatra and his daughter Nancy
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, and the label also secured the U.S. distribution rights to the recordings of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. Most importantly for the future of the company, the merger brought Reprise manager Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin is a record executive who has worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels...
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 the success of the Warner labels over the next two decades.
In 1964, Warner Bros. would start Loma Records, which was meant to focus on R&B acts. The label, run by former King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
promotion man Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
, 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
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in 1964 to become Warner-Reprise head art director. Among his credits for 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 started a trend for musicians to create the art for their own records. In 1973, when Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement with his comeback album, Thrasher shot candid photographs for the cover and also devised the album title Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back
Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back
Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back is a 1973 album by the American singer Frank Sinatra.Sinatra returned from his brief retirement with the appropriately titled 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
Disques Vogue
Disques Vogue was founded in France in 1947, the same year that the USA Vogue closed shop. They originally specialized in jazz recordings, featuring such artists as Sidney Bechet, Django Reinhardt, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Errol Garner. In the late 1950s Vogue expanded into pop music,...
and Warner Bros.' British distributor Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
for the rights to distribute Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
's recordings in the US. Clark soon scored a #1 US hit with "Downtown
Downtown (Petula Clark song)
"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...
" and she enjoyed consistent chart success in the USA over the next four years with hits such as "My Love
My Love (Petula Clark song)
"My Love" is a 1965 single release by Petula Clark which in early 1966 became an international hit, reaching #1 in the US: Clark's regular songwriter and producer Tony Hatch was responsible for "My Love"....
", "I Know A Place
I Know a Place
"I Know a Place" is a song with music and lyrics by Tony Hatch. It was recorded in 1965 by Petula Clark at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch in a session which featured drummer Bobby Graham and the Breakaways vocal group....
", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" is a 1966 single written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. It was inspired by the affair the songwriters were having at the time....
", "This Is My Song
This Is My Song
"This Is My Song" may refer to:*At least four popular songs:**"This Is My Song" , a song written by Lloyd Stone in 1934 to the tune of Jean Sibelius' Finlandia....
" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway
Don't Sleep in the Subway
"Don't Sleep in the Subway" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. Released in April 1967, it peaked at #5 on the US charts that June. It was Clark's final US top-ten single and the second of two #1 hits on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, following "I...
". Warner also released other Pye artists in the U.S. market such as The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
.
Another significant development in the label's history came in 1966 when Ostin hired young independent producer Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker
Lenny Waronker is a record producer for Warner Bros. Records.-Career:He produced recording sessions for Nancy Sinatra, The Everly Brothers, Van Dyke Parks, The Beau Brummels, Harpers Bizarre, Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Arlo Guthrie, Maria Muldaur, Gordon Lightfoot, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, ...
as an A&R manager, beginning a strong and enduring mentor/protege relationship between the two. Waronker, the son of Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
founder Simon Waronker
Simon Waronker
Simon "Si" Waronker was a violinist and record producer from Los Angeles, California. Graduating from high school at 13 years old, he won a scholarship to study music in France....
, had previously worked as an assistant to Liberty producer Snuff Garrett
Snuff Garrett
Snuff Garrett is a retired American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. His nickname is a play on Garrett's Snuff, a brand of snuff....
. Later he worked with the small Los Angeles label Autumn Records
Autumn Records
Autumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Its most prominent contract was considered The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"....
, founded by disc jockeys Tom Donahue
Tom Donahue
Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue , was a pioneering rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter....
, Bobby Mitchell
Bobby Mitchell
Robert Cornelius Mitchell is a former American football halfback and flanker in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and the Washington Redskins. Mitchell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.-Early life:Mitchell was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas and attended...
and Sylvester Stewart (who later became famous as Sly Stone
Sly Stone
Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, most famous for his role as frontman for Sly & the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1993, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
). Waronker had been hired as a freelance producer for some of Autumn's acts including The Tikis (who later became Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/Sunshine Pop sound and their remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."- Career :...
), The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels
The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino , Ron Elliott , Ron Meagher , Declan Mulligan , and John Petersen...
and The Mojo Men
The Mojo Men
The Mojo Men were a rock music band, inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, who recorded for the Autumn Records label in San Francisco, California....
and for these recording sessions he brought in several musician friends who were then becoming established on the L.A. music scene—pianists Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
(a childhood friend), Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
and Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
. Together they became the foundation of the creative circle that centred 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 Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield is a North American folk rock band renown both for its music and as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. Among the first wave of North American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined...
although, much to his and Ostin's chagrin, the band was ultimately signed by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, which was soon to be purchased by Warner Bros. Records.
In 1967 Warner Bros. took over Valiant Records
Valiant Records
Valiant Records was an independent record company co-owned by Four Star Television which was sold in 1967 to Warner Bros. Records.Valiant Records was never fully independent, for most of its existence, its distributor was ABC Records before Warners took it over distribution in 1965 and then...
, and this added harmony pop group The Association
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
to the Warner roster. During the year the label also took its first tentative step into the burgeoning rock market, signing leading San Francisco psychedelic rock group The Grateful Dead. Warner Bros. threw the band a release party at the Fugazi Hall in San Francisco's North Beach. During 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 and its music to the world", which prompted a cynical Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
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 the Compo Company
Compo Company
Compo Company Ltd. was Canada's first independent record company.The Compo Company was founded in 1918 in Lachine, Quebec by Herbert Berliner, an executive of Berliner Gramophone of Canada and the oldest son of disc record inventor Emile Berliner....
. This was the origin of Warner Music Canada.
1967-1969: Warner-Seven Arts
In November 1966 the entire Warner group was taken over by and merged with Seven Arts ProductionsSeven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. The company was a frequent producer of movies for other studios, including The Misfits for United Artists, Gigot for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Is Paris Burning? for Paramount Pictures.Over...
, a New York-based company owned by Elliot 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
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's Lolita
Lolita (1962 film)
Lolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...
, as well as forging a successful production partnership with noted British studio Hammer Films. Hyman's purchase of Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
'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
The newly merged group was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was formed in 1967 and became defunct in 1970, when Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. for $32 million and merged with it. The deal also included Warner Bros. Records, Reprise Records and the B&W Looney Tunes library...
(often referred to in 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 a meeting with Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
and Ahmet
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
and Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.-Background:Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Nesuhi and his family, including younger brother Ahmet, moved to Washington, D.C...
, co-owners of leading independent label Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, 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 recordings, sight unseen, but he 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
Lou Adler
Lou Adler is an American record producer, manager, and director.-Life and career:Adler was born in Chicago, Illinois in December 1933, and raised in East Los Angeles. In 1964, Adler founded and co-owned Dunhill Records. He was President of the label as well as the chief record producer from 1964...
. Wickham had worked as a commercial artist in London, followed by a stint with Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's Immediate Records
Immediate Records
Immediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene.-History:...
before moving to Los Angeles to work for Adler's Dunhill
Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...
label. Ostin initially hired Wickham as Warner's "house hippie" on a generous retainer of $200 per week. Hanging out around Laurel Canyon
Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California
Laurel Canyon is a canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was first developed in the 1910s, and became a part of the city of Los Angeles in 1923 ....
, Wickham scouted for new talent and established a rapport with the young musicians WBR 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
Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
and Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
(who signed to Reprise), whom Wickham successfully recommended to Ostin in his first week with the company. Over the next thirty years Wickham became one of WBR's most influential A&R managers, signing such notable acts as Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
and Norwegian pop trio a-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
.
During this formative period WBR made several other notable new signings including Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
and Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
. Newman would not make his commercial breakthrough until the mid-1970s but he achieved a high profile in the industry thanks to songs he wrote that were covered by other acts like Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night is an American rock band best known for their music from 1968 to 1975. During that time the band charted 21 Billboard top 40 hits in America, three of which reached Number One...
and Alan Price
Alan Price
Alan Price is an English musician, best known as the original keyboardist for the English band The Animals, and for his subsequent solo work....
. 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 Dead and critically acclaimed 'cult' performers like Newman and Parks, combined with the artistic freedom that the label afforded them, proved significant in building Warner Bros' reputation and credibility. Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
, who briefly headed Warner Bros.' short-lived 'black' label Loma Records
Loma Records
Loma Records was a sublabel of Warner Bros. Records ran by Bob Krasnow. Its name was derived from Loma Avenue, where its offices were held. It was started as an entry into the R&B market....
later commented that the 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 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
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and Harper's Bizarre) and especially because of his renowned collaboration with Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
on the legendary unreleased Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
album Smile. In 1967 Lenny Waronker produced Parks' Warner debut album Song Cycle
Song Cycle (album)
Song Cycle is a 1967 album by Van Dyke Parks that encompasses a number of genres, including psychedelic, folk, baroque, and experimental rock and pop. The release was Parks' debut album, and was produced by future Dreamworks Records co-founder Lenny Waronker.The album's material explores...
, which reportedly cost more than $35,000 to record, making it one of the most expensive 'pop' albums ever made up to that time. It sold very poorly despite rave critical reviews, so publicist Stan Cornyn
Stan Cornyn
Stan Cornyn is the author of Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes, and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group . He also has written three privately-published family genealogy books .-Career:...
(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 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 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 & 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 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 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
David Hassinger
David Hassinger was a sound engineer at RCA Studios in Los Angeles.From November 1964 until August 1966 he was the engineer for the Rolling Stones, working on all of their albums recorded in that period....
, 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 is co-credited with band on the album). The group and their concert sound engineer Dan Healy
Dan Healy (soundman)
Dan Healy is an audio engineer most famous for his work with the American rock band the Grateful Dead. He succeeded Owsley "Bear" Stanley as the group's chief sound man...
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
Anthem of the Sun
Anthem of the Sun is the second studio album by the Grateful Dead, released in 1968. It is the first album to feature second drummer Mickey Hart, who joined the band in September 1967...
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 the label, and Warner Bros. executive Joe Smith later described it as "the most unreasonable project with which we have ever involved ourselves".
The Dead's relationship with Warner Bros. Records was stretched even further by the making of their third album Aoxomoxoa
Aoxomoxoa
Aoxomoxoa is the third studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was originally titled Earthquake Country. Many Deadheads consider this era of the Dead to be the experimental apex of the band's history. It is also the first album with Tom Constanten as an official member of the band...
(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 1969 when 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 Dead that they were heavily in debt to WBR 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, the band voluntarily changed the title to Live/Dead
Live/Dead
Live/Dead is the first official live album released by the San Francisco-based band Grateful Dead. It was recorded over a series of live concerts in early 1969 and released later in the year on November 10...
.
Some of Warner Bros.' biggest commercial successes during this period were with "Sunshine Pop
Sunshine pop
Sunshine pop is a subgenre of pop music originating in the United States, mainly the state of California, in the mid-1960s. Sunshine pop, by nature, is cheerful and upbeat music which is characterised by warm sounds, prominent vocal harmonies, as well as sophisticated productions...
" acts. Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre
Harpers Bizarre was an American pop-rock band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/Sunshine Pop sound and their remake of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."- Career :...
scored a #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
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
scored a US #1 with "Windy
Windy
"Windy" is a pop music song written by Ruthann Friedman and recorded by The Association. Released in 1967, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July of that year. Later in 1967, an instrumental version by jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery became his biggest Hot 100 hit when it peaked at...
" and they reached #8 on the album chart with their first WBR album Insight Out. Their next single "Never My Love
Never My Love
"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Donald and Richard Addrisi and best known from a hit 1967 recording by The Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success was as the songwriters of "Never My Love"...
" also topped the charts in autumn 1967 (#2 Billboard, #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 the 20th century, surpassing both "Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
" by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and "Stand by Me
Stand by Me (song)
"Stand by Me" is the title of a song originally performed by Ben E. King and written by King, Jerry Leiber, and Mike Stoller, based on the spiritual "Lord Stand by Me,", plus two lines rooted in Psalms 46:2-3...
" by Ben E. King
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King , better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", a U.S...
. The group's 1968 Greatest Hits album was also a major hit, reaching #4 on the US album chart. In 1968 Mason Williams
Mason Williams
Mason Williams is an American guitarist and composer, best known for his guitar instrumental "Classical Gas". He is also a comedy writer, known for his writing on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live...
' instrumental composition "Classical Gas
Classical Gas
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by Mason Williams. Originally released in 1968 on the album The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, it has been re-recorded and re-released numerous times since by Williams...
" reached #2 on the Billboard chart, selling more than a million copies, and Williams won three Grammys
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
that year.
Another notable Warner release from this period was Astral Weeks
Astral Weeks
Astral Weeks is the second solo album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in November 1968 on Warner Bros. Records. It was Morrison's first album after Warner Bros. had been able to free him from his contract with Bang Records...
, the second solo album by Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
(his first was on Bang
Bang Records
Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegün, Nesuhi Ertegün and Jerry Wexler...
), 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 prominently on many "Best Albums of All Time" lists and has remained in release almost continuously since 1968.
During 1968, using 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
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
, Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.-Background:Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Nesuhi and his family, including younger brother Ahmet, moved to Washington, D.C...
and Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
. However, the purchase again caused rancour 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 the Ertegun brothers and Wexler between them 66,000 shares of Warner Bros.' common stock.
On 1 June 1968 Billboard announced that WBR's star comedy performer Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
had turned down a five-year, US$3.5 million contract renewal offer and would leave the label in August that year to record for his own Tetragrammaton Records
Tetragrammaton Records
Tetragrammaton Records was an American record label, founded by artist manager Roy Silver, Bruce Post Campbell, Marvin Deane, and comedian Bill Cosby in the late 1960s. The name references a term for the un-nameable name of God....
label. Just over one month later (July 13) Billboard reported on a major re-organization 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 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 ASCAPs collections from music users.
1969-71: Kinney takeover
In 1969 Warner-Seven Arts was taken over by the Kinney National CompanyKinney National Company
Kinney National Services, Inc. was formed in 1966 when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Company merged. The new company was headed by Steve Ross....
, 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, recording and music publishing divisions with Kinney's multi-faceted holdings. Ross had started the company in the late 1950s while working in his family's funeral business—seeing the opportunity to use the company's cars, which were idle at night, he founded a successful hire car 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 the Warner group in the years ahead -- National Periodical Publications (which included DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
and All American Comics), the Ashley-Famous
Ashley-Famous
Ashley-Famous was a talent agency started in 1951 by talent agent Ted Ashley. The agency had a successful 16 year run under that name and owner; it was responsible for many hit television shows and had several famous clients...
talent agency and Panavision
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...
.
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 an Australian subsidiary, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed a new four-year production and distribution deal with local label Festival Records
Festival Records (Australia)
Festival Records was an Australian music recording and publishing company which was founded in Sydney in 1952 and operated until 2005....
, without informing WBR.
During 1969 the rivalry between Mike Maitland and Ahmet Ertegun quickly escalated into an all-out executive battle, but Steve Ross favoured Ertegun and the conflict culminated in Maitland being dismissed from his position on 25 January 1970. He declined an offer of a job with Warner Bros. Pictures and left the company, subsequently becoming President of MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
. Mo Ostin was appointed as president of Warner Bros. Records with Joe Smith as executive vice-president.
1970-1979: The Ostin Era
By 1970, "Seven Arts" was dropped from the company name and the WB shield became the Warner Bros. Records logo again. During 1971 a financial scandal in its parking operations forced Kinney National to spin off its non-entertainment assets, and the Warner recording, publishing and film divisions then became part of a new umbrella company, Warner Communications Inc..In July 1970 the Warner recording group acquired another prestige asset with the purchase of Jac Holzman's Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
for US$10 million. With three co-owned record companies, the next step was formation of the group's in-house distribution arm, initially called Kinney Records Distributing Corporation, to better control distribution of product and make sure records by breaking new acts are available.
Beginning in 1967 with the signing of The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros. Records steadily built up a diverse and prestigious lineup of rock and pop artists through the 1970s. Under the guidance of Edward West, Vice-President of Warner Bros. Records Inc in 1973 and its executives, A&R managers and staff producers, including Mo Ostin, Stan Cornyn, Lenny Waronker, Andy Wickham, Russ Titelman
Russ Titelman
Russ Titelman is an American record producer and songwriter. He has to date won three Grammy Awards. He earned his first producing the Steve Winwood song "Higher Love", and his second and third for Eric Clapton's Journeyman and Unplugged albums...
and ex-Warner Bros. recording artist (with Harpers Bizarre) Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...
, sales grew streadily throughout the 1970s and by the end of the decade it had become one of the world's leading rock labels, with a star-studded roster that included Curved Air
Curved Air
Curved Air are a pioneering British progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classic, folk, and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band was a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
, Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
, The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
, Seals & Crofts, Labelle
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
and Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...
. This was augmented by lucrative licencing deals with American and international labels including Sire
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, Vertigo
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
and Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
(1975–1982) that gave WBR the American distribution rights for leading British and European rock acts including Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, Roxy Music
Roxy Music
Roxy Music was a British art rock band formed in 1971 by Bryan Ferry, who became the group's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. The other members are Phil Manzanera , Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson . Former members include Brian Eno , and Eddie Jobson...
, King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
. Aided by the growth of FM radio and the album oriented rock format, LPs became the primary vehicle of Warner Bros. sales successes throughout the 1970s, although artists such as the Doobie Brothers and America also scored many major US and international hit singles.
One of the first Warner Bros. albums to achieve both critical and commercial success in the early 1970s was Van Morrison's third solo LP Moondance
Moondance
Moondance is the third solo album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on Warner Bros. Records on 28 February 1970 and peaked at #29 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart....
(January 1970) which consolidated his distinctive blend of rock, jazz and R&B, earned glowing critical praise and sold well—it made the Top 40 album chart in both the US and the UK, the single "Come Running" was a US Top 40 hit (#39, Billboard) and the title track became a radio perennial. Like Astral Weeks, the LP still features prominently in many "Best Albums of All Time" listings and 40 years after its release it still ranks in the Top 20 in three major album sales categories on Amazon.com.
British group Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
were signed to Philips Records
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...
' progressive subsidiary Vertigo
Vertigo Records
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
, which Warner Bros. Records distributed in the USA; Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
were originally signed in the USA to the independent Tetragrammaton Records
Tetragrammaton Records
Tetragrammaton Records was an American record label, founded by artist manager Roy Silver, Bruce Post Campbell, Marvin Deane, and comedian Bill Cosby in the late 1960s. The name references a term for the un-nameable name of God....
, which was distributed by Warner Bros., who acquired the label after it folded in 1970. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album (recorded in just two days) reached #8 on the UK album chart, and #23 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, where it remained for over a year, selling strongly despite some negative reviews. It has since been certified platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) and in the UK by British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI). Sabbath's second album was to have been called War Pigs, but Warner Bros. Records changed the title to Paranoid
Paranoid (album)
Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Released in September 1970, the album was the only one by the band to top the UK Albums Chart, and as a result is commonly identified as the band's magnum opus...
fearing a backlash by consumers. It was a Top 10 hit on the US album chart in 1971, and went on to sell four million copies in the US alone with virtually no radio airplay.
In 1971 UK-based pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
trio America
America (band)
America is an English-American folk rock band that originally included members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. The three members were barely out of their teens when they became a musical sensation during 1972, scoring #1 hits and winning a Grammy for best new musical artist...
were signed to the recently established British division of Warner Bros. Their debut album, released late in the year, at first enjoyed only moderate success, but in early 1972 their single "A Horse With No Name" became a major international hit, reaching #1 in the US. Warner hastily reissued the album with the song included and it too became a huge hit, reaching #1 on the US album chart and eventually earning a platinum record award. Although criticised for their similarity to Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
(indeed, rumours circulated around Hollywood that Young had cut the track anonymously), America scored five more US Top 10 singles over the next three years, including a second US #1 with "Sister Golden Hair
Sister Golden Hair
"Sister Golden Hair" is a song written by Gerry Beckley and recorded by the band America for their fifth album Hearts . It was their second single to reach number one on the U.S...
" in 1975. Their albums performed very strongly in the charts—each of their first seven LPs were US Top 40 albums, five of these made the Top 10 and all but one (Hat Trick
Hat Trick (album)
__notoc__Hat Trick is the third original studio album by American folk rock trio America, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1973 ....
, 1973) achieved either gold or platinum status. Their 1975 Greatest Hits album became a perennial seller and is now accredited at 4x platinum.
In 1972, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
was signed to Warner Bros. Records after leaving Scepter Records
Scepter Records
Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...
in what was the biggest contract at the time for a female recording artist, although her five years at Warner Bros. were relatively unsuccessful in comparison to her spectacular hit-making tenure at Scepter.
After a slow start The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
proved to be one of Warner Bros.' most successful signings. Their debut album made little impact but their second album Toulouse Street
Toulouse Street
Toulouse Street is the second studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1972 . Toulouse Street is the name of a street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.-Track listing:Side One...
(1972) reached #21 and spawned two US Top 40 singles, "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just Alright
Jesus Is Just Alright
"Jesus Is Just Alright" is a gospel song written by Arthur Reid Reynolds and first recorded by Reynolds' own group, The Art Reynolds Singers, on their 1966 album, Tellin' It Like It Is....
", inaugurating a string of hit albums and singles over the next five years. Their third album The Captain and Me
The Captain and Me
The Captain and Me is the third studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1973. It features some of their most popular hits including "Long Train Running", "China Grove" and "Without You". The album is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.- Recording and content :This time...
was even more successful, reaching #7 in the US and producing two more hit singles, "China Grove
China Grove (song)
"China Grove" is a song from The Doobie Brothers' 1973 album The Captain and Me. It was written by original lead singer Tom Johnston, before he fell ill in 1975 and was replaced by Michael McDonald. The song is based on a real town in Texas with the same name. The connection is obvious given its...
" (#15) and "Long Train Runnin'" (#8); it became a consistent seller and is now accredited 2x Platinum by the RIAA. What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits is the fourth studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1974.-Recording and content:...
(1974) reached #4 and produced two more hits including their first US #1 single "Black Water" (1975). Stampede also reached #4, and producing another hit single with the Motown cover "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
"Take Me in Your Arms " is a song written by the premier Motown songwriting/production team of the 1960's Holland–Dozier–Holland: the song had its highest profile via a 1975 recording by the Doobie Brothers.-Motown versions:...
" (US #11).
Warner Bros. Records' reputation for nurturing new artists was demonstrated by the career of Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
(originally the name of the band, but later taken over as the stage name / persona of singer and main songwriter Vince Furnier). The Alice Cooper band recorded two unsuccessful albums for Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's Warner-distributed label Straight Records
Straight Records
Straight Records was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion label, Bizarre Records. Straight and Bizarre were manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by...
before teaming with producer Bob Ezrin
Bob Ezrin
Robert Alan "Bob" Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.-Biography:...
, who became a longtime collaborator. Their third LP Love it to Death
Love It to Death
Rolling Stones John Mendelsohn found it favorable. He explained that it "represents at least a modest oasis in the desert of dreary blue-jeaned aloofness served up in concert by most American rock-and-rollers." However, referring to "Black Juju" he also stated that "the one bummer on this album is...
(originally released on Straight and later reissued on Warner Bros.) reached #35 on the Billboard album chart and produced the hit single "I'm Eighteen
I'm Eighteen
"I'm Eighteen" is a 1970 song by rock band Alice Cooper, featured on their first major label release album Love It to Death. It was released in November 1970, 3 months prior to the album, and became the band's breakthrough hit.-Achievements:...
", which reached #21. Following the runaway success of their 1971 European tour Warner Bros. Records offered the band a multi-album contract; their first Warner Bros. album Killer sold well, with the single "Halo of Flies" making the Top 10 in the Netherlands, but it was their next album School's Out
School's Out (album)
School's Out is the fifth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1972. The album's title track has remained a staple song in Alice Cooper's live setlist and receives regular airplay on many "Classic Rock" radio stations....
(1972) that really put them on the map. The title song was a Top 10 hit in the US, reached #1 in the UK and became a radio staple, and the album went to #2 in the USA and sold more than a million copies. Billion Dollar Babies
Billion Dollar Babies
Billion Dollar Babies is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Alice Cooper, released in 1973. The album became the best selling Alice Cooper record at the time of its release, hit number one on the album charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and went on to be...
(1973) became their biggest success, going to #1 in both the US and the UK. The follow-up Muscle of Love
Muscle of Love
Muscle of Love is the seventh studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1973. It is the final studio album recorded by the original Alice Cooper band, and is a concept album about teenage angst, life on the streets of New York City, and implied male prostitution.In place of the usual jacket, the...
(1973) was less successful, although the single "Teenage Lament '74" was a Top 20 hit in the UK. Furnier split from the band in 1974 and signed to Warner Bros.' sister label Atlantic as a solo artist, scoring further success with his solo albums and singles.
In 1973 Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and manager Herb Cohen
Herb Cohen
Herbert "Herb" Cohen was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, and many other Los Angeles-based musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Life and career:Cohen was born in New York...
closed the Straight and Bizarre labels and established a new imprint, DiscReet Records
DiscReet Records
DiscReet Records was a company founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. It was created in 1973 when their previous companies Bizarre Records and Straight Records were discontinued...
, retaining their distribution deal with Warner Bros. Zappa's next album Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe is an album by Frank Zappa, his eighteenth, released on March 22, 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was Zappa's first chart single, reaching position 86. Apostrophe remains Zappa's biggest commercial...
(1973) became the biggest commercial success of his career, reaching #10 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" was a minor hit and (at the time) his only single to make the Hot 100 chart. Zappa also enjoyed moderate commercial success with the live double LP Roxy and Elsewhere (1974) and his next studio LP One Size Fits All
One Size Fits All
One Size Fits All is a 1975 rock album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. It is the last Zappa album to be released with the subheading of "Mothers of Invention". A special four-channel Quadraphonic version of the album was prepared and advertised, but not released...
(1975), both of which reached the Top 30 on the Billboard album chart.
WBR introduced a new label design for its LPs and singles in mid-1973. This design, which WBR would use until mid-1978, featured a multi-coloured, idealised view of a Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
street lined by palms and eucalypts, and titled with the slogan "Burbank, Home of Warner Bros. Records".
After several years as a 'cult' artist, Randy Newman achieved his first significant commercial success as a solo artist with his 1974 album Good Old Boys which made the Top 40. His controversial 1977 single "Short People
Short People
"Short People" is a song by Randy Newman from his 1977 album Little Criminals, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The verses and chorus seem to be a pointed attack on the short...
" was one of the surprise hits of the year, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 12, 1974 WBR and Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
established Warner-Spector Records
Warner-Spector Records
Warner-Spector Records was a record label formed on October 12, 1974 as an outlet for Phil Spector productions by Warner Bros. Records. The label lasted for three years...
, but the label was short-lived and folded in 1977; most of its releases were reissues Philles Records
Philles Records
Philles Records was a record label formed in 1961 by Phil Spector and Lester Sill, the label taking its name from a hybrid of their first names. Initially, the label was distributed by Jamie/Guyden in Philadelphia...
recordings from the 1960s and the only new material released was two singles by the disco group Calhoon and a single by Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
.
In 1975 Joe Smith was promoted to become President of the combined Elektra/Asylum label. At this time Warner Bros. began to wind down the Reprise label. In 1976-77 almost all Reprise acts, including Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
, Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
and Michael Franks were transferred to Warner Bros, leaving only Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
(who refused to move) and founder Frank Sinatra. Apart from these artists and some reissues, the Reprise label was dormant until it was reactivated in 1988.
By far the most successful of the Reprise acts who moved to Warner Bros. was Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
, whose massive success firmly established Warner Bros. in the front rank of major labels—although few would have predicted it from the band's tumultuous history. Between 1970 and 1975 there were multiple lineup changes (with only two original members remaining by 1974), their album sales declined drastically, and a legal battle over the group's name kept them off the road for over a year. However, just as Fleetwood Mac was switching labels in 1975, it was re-invigorated by the recruitment of new members Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums...
. The 'new' Fleetwood Mac scored a string of US and international hits and their self-titled Warner Bros. debut album was a huge success, reaching #1 in the US, charting for more than 30 weeks and selling more than 5 million copies. In 1977 their now-legendary Rumours took both group and label to even greater heights—it generated a string of international hit singles and became the most successful album in the label's history; it is currently ranked the 11th biggest selling album of all time and as of 2009 was estimated to have sold than 40 million copies.
After a string of albums with The Faces and as a solo artist for Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in the early 1970s, British singer Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
signed with Warner Bros. in 1974, applied for American citizenship and moved to the USA. Launching a sustained run of success, his Warner debut album Atlantic Crossing
Atlantic Crossing
Atlantic Crossing is Rod Stewart's sixth album, released in 1975, and peaking at number nine on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. On June 30, 2009, Rhino released a two-disc version with bonus tracks....
(1975) was a major international success, reaching #9 on the Billboard album chart and #1 in Australia, and the single "I Don't Want to Talk About It" went to #1 in the UK. His second WBR album A Night on the Town (1976) went to #2 in the USA and #1 in Australia and produced three US Top 40 singles, including his first US #1 "Tonight's the Night
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)
"Tonight's the Night " is a song by Rod Stewart, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama for his 1976 album A Night on the Town. The song became his second US chart topper, peaked at #5 in UK, #3 in Australia and charted well in other parts of the world as well...
". Foot Loose & Fancy Free
Foot Loose & Fancy Free
Foot Loose & Fancy Free is Rod Stewart's eighth album, released in November 1977 on Riva Records in the UK and Warner Bros in the US.The album has sold more 7 million in worldwide-Track listing:# "Hot Legs" – 5:14...
(1977) reached #2 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and #1 in Australia and again produced three US Top 40 singles, including "You're In My Heart", which reached #4. Blondes Have More Fun
Blondes Have More Fun
Blondes Have More Fun is Rod Stewart's ninth album, released in November 1978. This album was also released as a "picture disc", a vinyl album with the entire front cover picture embedded instead of thestandard label/black vinyl configuration...
(1978) went to #1 in the USA and Australia, and produced two more Top 40 singles including his second US #1, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (although Stewart and co-writer Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice
Carmine Appice is an American rock drummer of Italian background and is the older brother of drummer Vinny Appice by 12 years. He received a classical music training and was influenced by the jazz drumming of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa early on...
were later successfully sued for plagiarizing the song's catchy melody hook from "Taj Mahal" by Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben). Stewart's Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (Rod Stewart)
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is Rod Stewart's 1979 Warner Bros. Records best-of compilation.-Track listing:# "Hot Legs"# "Maggie May"# "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"# "You're In My Heart "# "Sailing"# "I Don't Want To Talk About It"...
collection (1979) went to #1 in the UK and Australia, giving the singer a record-breaking five consecutive #1 albums in the latter country.
Warner Bros. Records also had unexpected success in the mid-70s with another 'heritage' act, veteran vocal group The Four Seasons. In early 1975 they signed with Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...
(which was distributed by WBR) just as lead singer Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
scored a surprise hit with his independently released solo single "My Eyes Adored You
My Eyes Adored You
"My Eyes Adored You" is a popular song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It was originally recorded by The Four Seasons in early 1974. After the MoWest label balked at the idea of releasing it, the recording was sold to lead singer Frankie Valli for $4000...
". Soon after, Valli and the Four Seasons burst back onto the charts with the disco-styled "Who Loves You
Who Loves You
Who Loves You is a 1975 album by The Four Seasons which introduced the new Four Seasons: John Paiva , Don Ciccone , Lee Shapiro and Gerry Polci...
", which reached #3 in the US and sold more than a million copies, and the album Who Loves You
Who Loves You
Who Loves You is a 1975 album by The Four Seasons which introduced the new Four Seasons: John Paiva , Don Ciccone , Lee Shapiro and Gerry Polci...
sold more than 1 million copies. Their next single "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)
"December, 1963 " is a hit single by The Four Seasons, written by original Four Seasons keyboard player Bob Gaudio and his future wife Judy Parker, produced by Gaudio, and included on the group's 1975 album, Who Loves You....
" topped the charts in both Britain and the US in early 1976, becoming the group's first US #1 since 1967. A remixed version was a hit again in 1994 and its total of 54 weeks in charts gives it the longest tenure of any song on the Billboard Hot 100.
By the time of The Doobie Brothers 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets founding member Tom Johnston had effectively left the band and he was replaced by former Steely Dan
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...
session man Michael McDonald
Michael McDonald (singer)
Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
, whose distinctive voice helped to propel the group to even greater success. The new album sold strongly, reaching #8 in the US, and the title track reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a perennial on radio playlists. Warner Bros. also released the massively successful Best of the Doobies
Best of the Doobies
Best of The Doobies is the first greatest hits album by The Doobie Brothers. The album has material from Toulouse Street through Takin' It to the Streets, and is also a diamond record. The album was first released by Warner Bros...
(1976), which has become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time and is currently accredited at 10x Platinum status. 1978's Minute by Minute
Minute by Minute
Minute by Minute is the eighth studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 1978. The album contains their biggest hit, the Grammy-winning "What a Fool Believes". "Depending on You" and the title track were also released as singles...
marked the peak of their career—both the album and its lead single "What A Fool Believes
What a Fool Believes
"What a Fool Believes" is a song written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. The best-known version was recorded by The Doobie Brothers for their 1978 album Minute by Minute. The single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 14, 1979, remaining in that position for one week...
" went to #1 in the US and the album's title track also made the US Top 20, although it was their last album with founding drummer John Hartman and longserving guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter.
During the late 1970s Warner Bros.' reputation as the "artists first" label was challenged by a bitter and long-running dispute with Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
. In 1976 Zappa split from manager Herb Cohen and started legal proceedings against him, but this stopped him from getting access to recordings he had made immediately prior to the suit, so for his new album Zoot Allures
Zoot Allures
Zoot Allures is a 1976 rock album by Frank Zappa. This was Zappa's only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager Herb Cohen Frank Zappa's recording contract was temporarily re-assigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.The title is a pun on the French...
he by-passed DiscReet and took his own copy of the master directly to Warner Bros., who released it on the Warner Bros. label. Zappa's relationship with Warner soon turned sour, however; he was contracted to deliver four more albums to Discreet/Warner and to fulfil this obligation he sequenced four new releases (a double live album and three studio albums) but Warner Bros. rejected the tapes and refused to reimburse Zappa for his production costs. Zappa then re-sequenced the material into an ambitious multi-LP set entitled Läther
Läther
Läther is an album by Frank Zappa which was released on CD posthumously in 1996. Produced by Zappa in 1977, the recordings contained in Läther were made between 1972 and 1977 . A collection of these tapes was delivered to Warner Bros...
which encapsulated all the facets of his music, ranging from straight-ahead rock songs to challenging avant garde orchestral pieces. Believing that Warner Bros. had breached their contract, he made an independent deal with Mercury-Phonogram for a Halloween 1977 release, but Warner Bros. then took legal action to prevent it. Infuriated, Zappa then made a special appearance on radio station KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
in Pasadena, California, and hosted a broadcast of the entire album in sequence, during which he repeatedly criticized Warner Bros. and openly encouraged listeners to record the broadcast, resulting in numerous bootlegs. Warner Bros. then took further legal action against him, preventing him from issuing any new material for over a year. During the late 1970s, and against Zappa's wishes, Warner Bros. issued the disputed material (with little promotion) as the albums Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York
Zappa in New York is a live double album by Frank Zappa. It was recorded at a series of concerts at New York City's Palladium in December 1976. It was released by Zappa's DiscReet Records label in 1977, then quickly withdrawn. A second version was re-released in 1978 with changes ordered by...
(an edited and censored version of the original live double album), Studio Tan
Studio Tan
Studio Tan is an album by Frank Zappa, first released in September, 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #147 on the Billboard 200 albums chart...
, Sleep Dirt
Sleep Dirt
Sleep Dirt is an album by Frank Zappa released in January, 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached 175 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart...
and Orchestral Favorites
Orchestral Favorites
Orchestral Favorites is an album by Frank Zappa first released in May, 1979 on his own DiscReet Records label. The album is instrumental and features music performed by the 37-piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra...
. Ultimately though, Zappa emerged as the victor, winning back the rights to both his MGM-Verve recordings from the '60s and all the Straight/Bizarre/DiscReet/Warner Bros. material from the 1970s, but he remained trenchantly critical of his treatment by Warner Bros. for the rest of his life. All of Zappa's recordings were subsequently reissued through his own label Barking Pumpkin, including Läther
Läther
Läther is an album by Frank Zappa which was released on CD posthumously in 1996. Produced by Zappa in 1977, the recordings contained in Läther were made between 1972 and 1977 . A collection of these tapes was delivered to Warner Bros...
, which was posthumously released as a 3-CD set in 1996.
Ry Cooder's first Warner Bros. release was the 1977 live album Showtime and he remained with the label until his contract expired in the late 1980s. His 1979 album Bop 'Til You Drop is notable the first major-label rock recording to be digitally recorded and it became the best-selling album of his career.
Thanks to its distribution deal with Curb Records
Curb Records
Curb Records is a record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963...
, WBR scored the biggest hit single in the company's history in 1977. The ballad "You Light Up My Life
You Light Up My Life (song)
Many artists have covered "You Light Up My Life" since 1977. The following year, Johnny Mathis recorded and named his album after the song. LeAnn Rimes released her version as a single in 1997, 20 years after Boone's version was released and on the same record label . Her version fared modestly...
" (written and produced by Joe Brooks
Joseph Brooks (songwriter)
Joseph Brooks was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and composer. He composed the song "You Light Up My Life" for the film of the same name that he also wrote, directed, and produced. In his later years he became the subject of an investigation after being accused of a series of...
) was originally recorded by the late Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in which actress Didi Conn
Didi Conn
Didi Conn is an American film, stage and television actress.-Personal life:Conn was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a clinical psychologist. "Didi" was her childhood nickname...
lip-synched to Cisyk's recording. Teenager Debby Boone
Debby Boone
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer and stage actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life," which spent a then record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year...
(daughter of actor-singer Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
) was recruited to record a new version for single release, and this became a massive success, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting ten consecutive weeks and earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA. It became the most successful single of the 1970s in the United States, setting what was then a new record for longest run at #1 in the US and surpassing Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog
Hound Dog (song)
"Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues, country, and rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley is the best-known...
". Boone's success also earned her Grammy nominations for "Best Pop Vocal Performance Female" and "Record of the Year" and won her the 1977 Grammy for "Best New Artist" and the 1977 American Music Award for "Favorite Pop Single". The song also earned Joe Brooks the 1977 "Song of the Year" Grammy (tied with "Love Theme from "A Star Is Born" (Evergreen)") as well as "Best Original Song" at both the 1977 Golden Globe and Academy Awards. The single currently ranks at #7 on the Billboard All Time Hot 100.
Throughout the 1970s Warner Bros. also benefited from its US/Canada distribution deals with independent labels such as Straight Records
Straight Records
Straight Records was a record label formed in 1969 to distribute productions and discoveries of Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen. Straight was formed at the same time as a companion label, Bizarre Records. Straight and Bizarre were manufactured and distributed in the U.S. by...
, DiscReet Records
DiscReet Records
DiscReet Records was a company founded by Frank Zappa and his then business partner/manager Herb Cohen. It was created in 1973 when their previous companies Bizarre Records and Straight Records were discontinued...
, UK labels Chrysalis
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...
(1972–1976) and Island
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
(1974–1982), Bizarre Records
Bizarre Records
Bizarre Records was a record label formed for artists discovered by rock musician Frank Zappa and his business partner/manager Herb Cohen.Bizarre was originally formed as a production company...
, Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
(1970–1984) and Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
(which was sold to MCA
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
in 1990).
Although primarily associated with mainstream 'white' acts in the Seventies, Warner Bros.' distribution deals with smaller labels also brought it some success in the disco, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and funk genres in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Among the imprints it distributed that were notable in these fields were Seymour Stein's Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
(which Warner Bros. soon purchased), Curtis Mayfield's Curtom
Curtom Records
Curtom Records was a record label started by Curtis Mayfield of The Impressions along with Impressions associate Eddie Thomas in 1968 although the name was used as early as 1963. The labels name was a combination of Mayfields first name and Thomas' surname...
, Norman Whitfield
Norman Whitfield
Norman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Berry Gordy's Motown label during the 1960s...
's Whitfield Records
Whitfield Records
Whitfield Records was a record label, founded in 1975 by former Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield and active until 1982. Whitfield Records was distributed throughout its entire existence by Warner Bros...
, Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
' Qwest
Qwest Records
Qwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned byWarner Music Group. although Quincy was still under contract with A&M records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest,...
, Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
's Paisley Park
Paisley Park Records
Paisley Park Records was Prince's record label, associated with and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain...
, RFC Records (formed in December 1978 when Ray Caviano became the executive director of Warner's disco division), Tom Silverman
Tom Silverman
Tom Silverman is the founder, chairman and CEO of the record label Tommy Boy Records , and he is co-founder of the independent film and television company Tommy Boy Films. Silverman co-founded Dance Music Report magazine, which ran from 1978 to 1992, and he co-founded the Dance Music Hall of Fame,...
's Tommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Records
Tommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...
(another label Warner Bros. eventually took over).
Until the late 1970s Warner Bros. itself still had very few African American music artists on its roster, but this began to change during with the singing of artists such as George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
and Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
. Benson had risen to prominence in jazz in the 1960s but was still relatively little-known by the general public. However, his move to Warner Bros. in 1976 and the teaming with producer Tommy LiPuma
Tommy LiPuma
Tommy LiPuma is an American music producer. In his long career, he has worked with many musicians, including Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Natalie Cole, Claudine Longet, Dave Mason, the Yellowjackets, Michael Franks, Diana Krall, and The Story...
enabled him to straddle genres and made him a popular and highly successful mainstream R&B and pop artist. His first Warner Bros. LP Breezin'
Breezin'
Breezin' is an album by jazz/soul guitarist George Benson.The album marked the beginning of Benson's most successful period commercially. Breezin topped the Pop, Jazz and R&B album charts in Billboard and spun off two hit singles, the title song and "This Masquerade," which was a top ten pop and...
(1976) became one of the most successful jazz albums of the decade and a major 'crossover' hit—it topped the American Pop, R&B and Jazz album charts and produced two hit singles, the title track (which became a jazz standard and a radio favourite) and "This Masquerade," which was a Top 10 pop and R&B hit. Benson enjoyed enormous success with his subsequent Warner albums. All of his Warner LPs made the Top 20 on the US jazz album chart and beginning with Breezin, he scored seven consecutive US #1 jazz albums; the first five of these were also Top 20 hits on both the Pop and R&B charts. His live version of Leiber & Stoller's "On Broadway" (from his 1978 live album Weekend in L.A.) outcharted the original version by The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gained further exposure thanks to its memorable use in the famous audition sequence in Bob Fosse
Bob Fosse
Robert Louis “Bob” Fosse was an American actor, dancer, musical theater choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction...
's 1979 film All That Jazz
All That Jazz
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Bob Fosse's manic effort to edit his...
. Benson's most successful single "Give Me The Night" (1980) became his first US #1 R&B hit, reached #4 on the Pop chart and also reached #2 on the Hot Disco Singles chart.
Precocious young Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
signed to Warner Bros. in 1977. His first album For You
For You (Prince album)
-Music:The album opens with the title track, an a cappella recording that states: "All of this and more is for you. With love, sincerity, and deepest care, my life with you I share." This would foreshadow Prince's career of speaking mostly through his music, rather than conventional interviews...
made little impact, although the single "Soft and Wet" reached #12 on the Billboard R&B chart. However, his second (self-titled) album (1979) fared considerably better, reaching #3 on the R&B album chart and earning a gold record award; the first single lifted from the album, "I Wanna Be Your Lover
I Wanna Be Your Lover
"I Wanna Be Your Lover" is a song by Prince from his second album Prince, released in 1979. It was his first successful single, gaining radio airplay and chart success: the song scored two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart during December 1979, and peaked at number eleven on the...
" became Prince's first crossover hit, reaching #1 on the R&B chart and #11 on the main pop chart, while the follow-up single "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?" reached #13 on the R&B chart. Although he was still little known outside the USA at this stage, this early success set the stage for his major commercial breakthrough in the 1980s.
Another valuable late '70s discovery was metal-pop band Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
, who were spotted at a Hollywood club by Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman in 1977. Their self-titled debut album was a notable success, reaching #19 on the Billboard album chart, and their second album Van Halen II
Van Halen II
-Personnel:*David Lee Roth - lead vocals*Eddie Van Halen - electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals*Michael Anthony - bass guitar, backing vocals*Alex Van Halen - drums-Production:*Producer: Ted Templeman...
(1979) reached #6 and produced their first hit single "Dance the Night Away" (#19).
Warner Bros. also began to tentatively embrace the burgeoning New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
movement in the late 1970s, signing cult alternative bands Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
and The B-52s. A crucial acquisition in this field—and one which would soon proved to be of enormous importance to the company—was the New York-based Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
, founded in 1966 by Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros...
and Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...
. Warner Bros. took over Sire's distribution from ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
in 1977 and bought the label in 1978, retaining Stein as its president. The addition of the Sire roster gave Warner Bros. an important foothold in this area (indeed, Stein is often credited with naming the genre to replace the term "punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
", which he disliked); its American signings included The Ramones, The Dead Boys
The Dead Boys
The Dead Boys were an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. Among the first wave of early punk bands, the Dead Boys were initially active from 1976 to 1979, briefly reuniting in 1987, 2004 and 2005.-Formation and 1970s punk rock era:...
, and Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
and most importantly of all, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, who soon became the most successful female artist in music history, earning billions for Warner. Sire's distribution deals with British independent labels including Mute
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
, Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
, Korova and Fiction
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a UK label founded by Chris Parry in 1978 that is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Formerly independent, the label is now owned by Polydor, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-History:...
gave WEA the American rights to important UK-based New Wave bands including Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, The Beat
The Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....
, Madness
Madness (band)
In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...
, Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
and The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
. Into the 1990s, the label had continued success with Seal
Seal (musician)
Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
, k.d. lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...
, Tommy Page
Tommy Page
Tommy Page is an American singer, best known for his 1990 hit single, "I'll Be Your Everything."-Career:...
, Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
and Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
.
In the late '70s Warner Bros. also scored mainstream pop hits with singer/actor Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Cassidy
Shaun Paul Cassidy is an American actor, singer, writer, and producer. He is the eldest son of Academy Award winning actress Shirley Jones, and the second son of Tony award-winning actor Jack Cassidy...
-- his version of "Da Doo Ron Ron" went to #1 in the US in 1977, his next two singles (both penned by Eric Carmen
Eric Carmen
Eric Howard Carmen is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist.He scored numerous hit songs across the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries , and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All By Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It",...
) were US Top 10 hits and Cassidy was nominated for a Grammy award. As the decade drew to a close there were more breakthroughs with new acts. Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...
' self-titled debut album went to #3 in the US, #1 in Australia and #18 in the UK and produced two hit singles, "Chuck E's in Love" (US #4) and "Young Blood" (US #40). Thanks to its American distribution deal with Vertigo, British group Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
provided another sustained run of hit albums and singles in the late 1970s and 1980s. Their eponymous debut album
Dire Straits (album)
Dire Straits is the self-titled debut album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in October 1978 by Phonogram Records.-History:...
(1978) was a surprise international hit, going to #2 in the USA and earning a gold record award from the RIAA, while the single "Sultans of Swing" went to #4 in the US. Their second album Communiqué (1979) made the Top 20 in many countries and earned another gold record award in the U.S. WBR also enjoyed renewed success with comedy recordings in this period, transferring Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
from Reprise and signing rising star Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
, whose second Warner album A Wild and Crazy Guy
A Wild and Crazy Guy
A Wild and Crazy Guy was an album by American comedian Steve Martin. It reached number two on a Billboard's Pop Albums Chart. The album was eventually certified double platinum....
(1978) became one of the label's biggest comedy hits—it reached #2 on the pop album chart, won the 1979 Grammy for 'Best Comedy Album', and Martin's novelty single "King Tut" was a US Top 20 hit.
1980–1988
The 1980s was a period of unprecedented success for Warner Bros. Records. The golden decade began with the success of singer-songwriter Christopher CrossChristopher Cross
Christopher Cross is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammys. He is perhaps best known for his Top Ten hit songs, "Sailing", "Ride Like the Wind", and "Arthur's Theme ", the last of which he performed for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore...
, whose self-titled debut album went to #6 in the US and produced four charting singles, including the #1 hit "Sailing". He also won five major categories at the 1981 Grammy Awards, becoming the only solo artist to date to win the "Big Four" awards in one year (Record, Song and Album of the Year, and Best New Artist) while his performance of "Arthur's Theme" from the Dudley Moore film Arthur
Arthur
Arthur is a common masculine given name. Its etymology is disputed, but its popularity derives from its being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur....
, which also went to #1, won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song.
Warner Bros. scored an apparent coup in 1980 by luring Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
away from Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. His first Warner album was One Trick Pony
One-Trick Pony (album)
One-Trick Pony is the fifth solo album released by Paul Simon, in 1980.Paul Simon's One-Trick Pony was released concurrently with the film of the same name, in which Simon also starred...
(1980), which accompanied the movie of the same name, which Simon wrote and starred in. The single "Late in the Evening" was a major hit (#6) but the album was not a big seller. His next album Hearts and Bones
Hearts and Bones
Hearts and Bones is the sixth solo album by Paul Simon. It was released in 1983.The album was originally intended to be a Simon & Garfunkel reunion album called Think Too Much, following their Central Park reunion concert in 1981, and the world tour of 1982 - 1983. In fact, some of the songs...
(1983) was well received by critics but neither it nor the lead single "Allergies" made the chart and Simon's career took a nosedive and it was several more years before the label's patience eventually paid off.
After two moderate-selling albums that established them as one of the most original American New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
bands of the period, DEVO
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
broke through to mainstream success in 1980 with their third album Freedom of Choice
Freedom of Choice
Freedom of Choice is the third album by New Wave musicians Devo, released on May 16, 1980. It saw the band moving in more of an overt synthpop direction, even though guitars still played a prominent role....
which reached #22 in the US. Thanks to its quirky music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, which was put on high rotation on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, the single "Whip It" reached #14 on the Billboard pop chart, becoming the group's biggest American hit. Their follow-up EP DEV-O Live
DEV-O Live
DEV-O LIVE is a live EP by the New Wave band Devo. It was recorded during the Freedom of Choice tour of 1980, at The Fox Warfield Theatre. Initially only six songs from the show were released on an EP in 1981, intended for airplay use...
(1981) was a surprise hit in Australia, topping the singles chart there for three weeks, but their subsequent albums and singles suffered from declining sales and the group was eventually dropped by the label after their 1984 album Shout
Shout (Devo album)
Shout is a 1984 album by the New Wave rock band Devo. It was their sixth album for Warner Bros. Records and retained the synth-pop sound of their previous records with a heavy focus on the new Fairlight CMI computer synthesizer. Despite the popularity of synth-pop in 1984, the album was a critical...
.
Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
's 1980 album Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind is the third studio album by American musician Prince, released October 8, 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. Produced, arranged and composed primarily by Prince, it contains prominently sexual lyrics and incorporates musical elements of funk, dance and rock music. The album debuted at number...
was widely praised by critics, earning a gold record award, but his 1982 double-LP 1999
1999 (album)
1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, released on October 27, 1982. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. 1999 was Prince's breakthrough album, but his next album Purple Rain would become his most...
(1982) became his first major hit album, selling over three million copies and spawning three hit singles. The title track reached #12 in the US and provided his first international hit (#25 UK) and his next two singles, "Little Red Corvette
Little Red Corvette
"Little Red Corvette" is a song by the American musician Prince. Released as a single from the album 1999 in 1983, the song was his biggest hit at the time, and his first to reach top-10 status in the U.S., peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart...
" and "Delirious", were both US Top 10 hits.
Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
were picked up by Warner Bros. in 1981 after being dropped by their former label Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, who believed the band was no longer commercially viable. After teaming with producer David Foster
David Foster
David Walter Foster, OC, OBC , is a Canadian musician, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, and arranger, noted for discovering singers such as Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, and Charice Pempengco; and for producing some of the most successful artists in the world, such as Céline Dion, Toni...
, they shot back into the charts in 1982 with the album Chicago 16
Chicago 16
Chicago 16 is the 16th album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1982. The album marks the beginning of a new era for Chicago. It is the first album in a decade-long association with new label Warner Bros...
, which reached #9 and produced two hit singles including the US #1 hit "Hard To Say I'm Sorry
Hard to Say I'm Sorry
"Hard to Say I'm Sorry" is a 1982 Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit ballad performed by American rock group Chicago, written by band member Peter Cetera and producer David Foster from the album Chicago 16, released in 1982. The song hit number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on September 11...
". Their second Warner album, Chicago 17
Chicago 17
Chicago 17 is the 17th album by American rock band Chicago and was released in 1984. As the follow-up to 1982's comeback Chicago 16, Chicago 17 capitalized on its predecessor's popularity by delivering their most popular album - currently seven times platinum in the US alone and a Grammy winner -...
, became the biggest seller of their career—it reached #4 in the US and produced four US Top 20 singles including the Top 5 hits "Hard Habit to Break" (#3) and "You're the Inspiration" (#3) and is currently accredited at 6× Platinum. Lead singer Peter Cetera
Peter Cetera
Peter Paul Cetera is an American singer, songwriter, bassist and producer best known for being an original member of the rock band Chicago, before launching a successful solo career...
left the group after this album but had continued success as a solo artist for Warner, scoring a #1 hit in 1986 with "The Glory of Love" (from the movie The Karate Kid), which also won a Grammy Award. His second solo album sold more than a million copies and produced another #1 hit, "The Next Time I Fall
The Next Time I Fall
"The Next Time I Fall" is a 1986 Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit song written by Bobby Caldwell and Paul Gordon, recorded as a duet by Peter Cetera and Amy Grant for Cetera's 1986 album Solitude/Solitaire, and as a solo by Caldwell himself for his 1988 album Heart of Mine. The single reached number one on...
". His third solo album produced the Top 5 hit "One Good Woman
One Good Woman
"One Good Woman" is a popular song from 1988 by Peter Cetera, formerly the lead singer of the rock band Chicago. Cetera co-wrote and co-produced the track with Patrick Leonard, and the song was included on Cetera's 1988 album One More Story....
" (1988) and "After All
After All (Cher song)
"After All" is a 1989 Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 Hit song performed as a duet by American singer and actress Cher and American singer and bass player Peter Cetera , released on February 21, 1989 by Geffen Records. It was used as the love theme for the movie Chances Are and was nominated for Best...
" reached #6.
After the end of his contract with RSO Records
RSO Records
RSO Records was a record label, formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood in 1973. The "RSO" stands for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. The company's main headquarters were at 67 Brook Street, in London's Mayfair...
and Polydor, Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
signed to Warner Bros. in 1982. His first WBR album, Money and Cigarettes
Money and Cigarettes
Money and Cigarettes is an Eric Clapton album, released in 1983. The memorable cover depicts Clapton, cigarette in hand, standing next to a melting Fender Stratocaster guitar. Eric Clapton named the album like this "because, that's all I saw myself having left." The single "I've Got a Rock 'n' Roll...
(1983), reached #16 on the Billboard album chart, and the single "I've Got A Rock'N'Roll Heart" reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next album Behind the Sun
Behind the Sun (Eric Clapton album)
Behind the Sun is a 1985 album by the English guitarist Eric Clapton. The title of the album comes from a line from Albert King's "Louisiana Blues". It is also Clapton's first collaborative project with Phil Collins. Often referred to as his "comeback album", it was received very well in both the...
also fared well, reaching #34 and the hit single "Forever Man" went to #26, but he transferred to Reprise for his next release.
Another resurgent 1970s act who scored major success with Warner Bros. in this period was ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
, who had previously been signed to London Records
London Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
. During an extended break in the late '70s the group gained ownership of their London recordings and signed with Warner Bros, who also re-issued their back-catalogue. Their first two Warner albums Deguello
Degüello
Degüello is the sixth studio album by American blues rock band ZZ Top, released in 1979 . "Degüello" means "beheading" or, idiomatically, "no quarter" in Spanish and was the title of a Moorish-origin bugle call used by the Mexican Army forces at the Battle of the Alamo, Texas, in 1836.Degüello...
(1979) and El Loco
El Loco
El Loco is the seventh studio album by American blues rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981 . The title means "The Crazy One" in Spanish. Guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has stated that the recordings of this album was the first time the three members of the band were isolated from one another in the...
(1981) were moderately successful, but Eliminator (1983) became a major hit thanks to strong support for their music videos on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. They scored three US hit singles including "Legs" (US #8), while the album reached #9 on the Billboard 200 and sold in huge numbers, earning a Diamond record award in 1996. Afterburner
AfterBurner
The AfterBurner is a lighting solution for the Game Boy Advance system that was created by Triton-Labs.Originally, portablemonopoly.net was a website created to petition Nintendo to put some kind of light in their Game Boy Advance system...
(1985) went to #4 and produced seven hit singles, including "Sleeping Bag" (#8).
Sire artist Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
shot to international prominence with her 1983 self-titled debut album and her first mainstream hit single "Holiday
Holiday (Madonna song)
"Holiday" is a song by American singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. Released on September 7, 1983 by Sire Records, it later appeared remixed on the 1987 remix compilation You Can Dance and the 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection, and in its original form on the...
", which reached #16 in the US and became a hit in many other countries, including Australia and the UK, where it was Top 5. The album made the Top 20 in more than a dozen countries including the USA, where it has been certified at 5× Platinum status. It was quickly followed by Like A Virgin
Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records released a remastered version with two bonus...
, which became her first US #1 album and was sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. The title track was also a huge international hit, going to #1 in Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA. Boosted by her well-received role in the film Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...
, "Crazy For You
Crazy for You
Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the songwriting team’s 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well...
" (1985) became her second US #1 hit, and the follow-up Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
reached #2 in the USA and was Top 5 in many other countries.
Prince's hugely successful 1984 film and album Purple Rain
Purple Rain (album)
Purple Rain is the sixth studio album by Prince, the first to officially be credited to Prince and The Revolution, and is the soundtrack album to the 1984 film Purple Rain.Purple Rain is regularly ranked among the best albums in pop music history...
cemented his stardom, selling more than thirteen million copies in the U.S. and spending twenty-four consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, while the Purple Rain
Purple Rain (film)
Purple Rain is a 1984 film directed by Albert Magnoli and written by Magnoli and William Blinn. Prince makes his film debut in this movie, which was developed to showcase his particular talents, hence, the film contains several extended concert sequences. The film grossed more than US$80 million at...
film won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song Score" and grossed more than $80 million in the US. Singles from the album became hits on pop charts around the world; "When Doves Cry
When Doves Cry
A hit cover version by R&B singer Ginuwine was produced by Timbaland in 1996 for Ginuwine's The Bachelor album, Ginuwine's cover uses actual dove sound effects as texture for its jungle music-inspired instrumental track.-Charts:-Other cover versions:...
" and "Let's Go Crazy
Let's Go Crazy
"Let's Go Crazy" is a 1984 song by Prince and The Revolution, from the album, Purple Rain. It was the opening track on both the album, and the film Purple Rain. "Let's Go Crazy" is one of Prince's most popular songs, and is almost always a staple for concert performances, often segueing into other...
" both reached #1 and the title track reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, the sexually explicit album track "Darling Nikki
Darling Nikki
"Darling Nikki" is a song produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince and originally released on his Grammy Award-winning 1984 album, Purple Rain. Though the song was not released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics...
" generated a major controversy that had lasting effects—when politician's wife Tipper Gore
Tipper Gore
Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...
heard her 12-year-old daughter listening to the song and investigated the lyrics, her outrage led to the formation of the conservative lobby group Parents Music Resource Center
Parents Music Resource Center
The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...
. Their stance was vehemently opposed by former Warner Bros. artist Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and others, but the PMRC's political clout eventually forced the US recording industry to adopt the compulsory practice of placing a "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker on records deemed to contain "offensive" content.
1984 also saw Van Halen break into the big league with the single "Jump
Jump (Van Halen song)
"Jump" is a song by the American rock group Van Halen. It is the only single the group released in their career to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was released in 1984 as the second track on the album 1984...
" (their only US #1 hit) and the album 1984
1984 (Van Halen album)
1984 is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums , 1984 is to date the final album featuring singer David Lee Roth before he left the band in the spring of the following year.-Background and recording:Eddie Van Halen,...
; it was a huge seller (earning Diamond album status in 1999) and reached #2 in the US, producing two more Top 20 hits. However, escalating friction between guitarist Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
and lead singer David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
reached breaking point soon after the album's release and Roth left the band, to be replaced by Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
; 1984 was also the last time they worked with Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman
Ted Templeman is an American record producer.-Career:He began his career in the mid 1960s in the Santa Cruz area as a drummer in a band called The Tikis. At the suggestion of Lenny Waronker, the group decided to change their name. Harpers Bizarre was born in 1966, with Templeman switching to...
, who had produced all their albums up to this point.
In 1985 Dire Straits' single "Money for Nothing
Money for Nothing (song)
"Money for Nothing" is a single by British rock band Dire Straits, taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. It was one of Dire Straits' most successful singles, peaking at number one for three weeks in the United States, and it also reached number one for three weeks on the U.S. Mainstream...
" gained massive exposure on MTV thanks to its innovative computer-animated music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, propelling the single to #1 in the US. They scored two more US Top 20 hits with "Walk of Life
Walk of Life (Dire Straits song)
"Walk of Life" is a 1985 song by the British rock band Dire Straits. It appeared on their best-selling album Brothers in Arms. It subsequently appeared on their live album On the Night. It was released as a single in November 1985 but had first been available as the b-side of "So Far Away" released...
" and "So Far Away
So Far Away (Dire Straits song)
"So Far Away" is a 1985 rock song by Dire Straits. It appears on the album Brothers in Arms. It became the band's fourth top 20 hit on the Billboard charts, peaking at #19...
" and the album Brothers in Arms
Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits album)
- Original LP track listing :- 2005 Re-Issue 2 LP track listing :The 2005 Limited Edition Deluxe 180 gram High Performance Vinyl reissue contained the full-length versions of all songs by spreading out the songs over two half speed mastered LPs....
was a phenomenal success—it went to #1 in the USA, Australia and most European countries and sold in colossal numbers—by 1996 it had been certified at 9× platinum in the USA and it is currently ranked at #25 in the list of best-selling albums of all time, with sales of more than 30 million copies worldwide.
The new incarnation of Van Halen bounced back in 1986, releasing the enormously successful 5150
5150 (album)
5150 is the seventh studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen, released in 1986 through Warner Bros. Records. The album was the first to be recorded with new lead singer Sammy Hagar who replaced David Lee Roth....
album which went to #1 and produced two hit singles, "Why Can't This Be Love" (US #3) and "Dreams" (#22). Their four subsequent studio albums all reached #1 and the band scored 17 US Top 20 singles, including 1988's "When It's Love" (US #5), but their overall sales gradually declined, with each album selling less than its predecessor.
The same was true of Prince—he scored numerous hit albums and singles through the latter half of the 1980s, but his record sales declined and Warner Bros. executives became increasingly concerned that he was producing far more material than they could release. His image was also tarnished by the failure of his later film ventures, his embarrassing refusal to participate in the recording of "We Are The World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...
" and his sacking of guitarist Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin
Wendy Melvoin is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy & Lisa....
and long-serving keyboard player Lisa Coleman
Lisa Coleman (musician)
Lisa Coleman is an American Emmy® Award winning musician and composer. Coleman plays piano and keyboards. She was a member of Prince's backing band The Revolution from 1980-1986. She is currently one half of the musical duo Wendy & Lisa, formed with Wendy Melvoin in 1986.-Early life:Coleman's...
. The 1985 album Around the World in a Day
Around the World in a Day
Around the World in a Day is the seventh studio album by Prince and the second by The Revolution, released on April 22, 1985 on Warner Bros. In compliance with Prince's wishes, the record company released the album with minimal publicity, not even releasing an accompanying single until almost a...
held the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks and peaked at #5 in the UK. Parade (1986) served as the soundtrack for Prince's second film Under the Cherry Moon
Under the Cherry Moon
Under the Cherry Moon is a 1986 film directed by and starring Prince as a gigolo named Christopher Tracy and Time member Jerome Benton as his partner, Tricky. Together, the pair swindle wealthy French women...
; although the movie was a critical and commercial failure, the album peaked at #3 in Billboard and #2 on the R&B album charts and his classic single "Kiss" was another big international hit, going to #1 in the US and becoming a radio staple.
Prince's next project had a long and complex evolution, beginning as a proposed concept double-album called Dream Factory
Dream Factory (album)
Dream Factory was an unreleased double LP project recorded by Prince and The Revolution from 1986.-History:Unlike the three previous Prince and The Revolution albums, the entire band was invited to the studio to contribute to a majority of the album's material, with the notable exceptions of "The...
; Prince then proposed a solo LP which he intended to issue under the pseudonym Camille, but he eventually combined elements from both to create the ambitious three-album set Crystal Ball
Crystal Ball (unreleased album)
Crystal Ball is an unreleased studio album by Prince recorded throughout 1986. The album was planned to consist of 3 LPs and cover a broad range of musical styles.-Evolution of the album:...
. However, because of the relatively lower sales of his previous albums, Prince's manager Steve Fargnoli and Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin both doubted the commercial viability of releasing a 3-LP set, and after previewing Crystal Ball Ostin insisted that Prince pare it down to two records. Prince at first refused and a battle of wills ensued for several weeks, but he eventually backed down and removed seven tracks; the resulting double-album was released in March 1987 as Sign "☮" the Times. Despite Prince's bitterness over its forced reduction, it was very successful, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and selling 3.2 million copies, while the title single "Sign O' The Times" reached #3 on the Hot 100. The follow-up single "If I Was Your Girlfriend" flopped (although it went to #12 on R&B chart) but he scored big hits with the next two singles, "U Got the Look" (#2 Hot 100, #11 R&B) and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (#10 Hot 100, #14 R&B).
1986–87 took Warner Bros. to even greater heights. Madonna's landmark album True Blue produced three US #1s and two Top 5 singles and the LP was an unprecedented success, topping the charts in more than 28 countries (a feat that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of Records), and to date it has sold 24 million copies. After several years in the doldrums, a reinvigorated Paul Simon burst back onto the music scene in late 1986 with Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
. Warner Bros. were initially anxious about the commercial appeal of Simon's innovative fusion of rock with African styles but the album was a resounding success, topping the charts in many countries, reaching #3 in the US and producing two US Top 20 singles. It became the best-selling American album of 1987 and the most successful of Simon's solo career, selling more than 5 million copies, and winning the 1986 Grammy for 'Album of the Year'; the title track also won 'Song of the Year' in 1987. In jazz Warner Bros. scored another artistic coup by signing jazz legend Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
after his break with longtime label Columbia. His comeback album Tutu
Tutu (album)
Tutu is an album released in 1986 by trumpeter Miles Davis on Warner Bros. Records.Originally planned as a collaboration with pop singer/songwriter Prince, Davis ultimately worked with bassist/multi-instrumentalist Marcus Miller...
(1986) was a major crossover hit, gaining rave reviews and winning a Grammy in 1987.
In the summer of 1986 Warner Bros. announced the reactivation of Reprise Records with its own separate promotions department, and former Warner Bros. Vice President of Promotion Richard Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice President.
During 1987 Prince recorded a pared-down funk LP, The Black Album, but he withdrew it in December just before it was to be released (even though 500,000 copies had been printed). Its hastily recorded replacement Lovesexy
Lovesexy
Lovesexy is the tenth studio album by Prince, released on May 10, 1988. Lovesexy was issued as a substitute record after the release of the infamous The Black Album had been suddenly cancelled. The Black Album and Lovesexy almost act as companion pieces, sharing the song "When 2 R in Love", but...
(1988) was a moderate success, reaching #11 on the Billboard album chart although it reached #1 in the UK. However, he rebounded in 1989 with the soundtrack for the hugely successful Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
film, which sold more than four million copies, reached #1 on the Billboard album chart and produced four hit singles including "Batdance", which topped both the Hot 100 and R&B charts.
Like fellow Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
natives The B-52s, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
was a 'cult' band who gradually built up a strong following in the USA and internationally during the 1980s (thanks in part to their innovative music videos). For most of the '80s they were signed to the independent label IRS Records and in 1987 they broke out to mainstream success with the album Document
Document
The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...
, their first to sell more than one million copies. However, they were frustrated by IRS's poor international distribution and when their IRS contract expired in 1988 they signed with Warner Bros. Their Warner debut Green established them as a major force, earning a platinum album and selling more than 4 million copies worldwide, and "Stand" became their first US hit single.
Lenny Waronker took over as President of WBR in 1989, and his first act was to sign Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
. Costello's first Warner album Spike
Spike (Elvis Costello album)
Spike is the 12th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released on and compact disc as Warner Brothers 25848. It was his first album for the label. It peaked at #5 on the UK album chart, and at #32 on the Billboard 200....
featured his biggest American single, the Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
collaboration "Veronica", which was a US Top 20 hit. He recorded three more critically praised albums for Warner Bros., Mighty Like A Rose
Mighty Like a Rose
Mighty Like A Rose is the 13th studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1991 on compact disc as Warner Brothers 26575. The title is presumably a reference to the pop standard "Mighty Lak' a Rose", and although that song does not appear on the album, the...
, Brutal Youth, and All This Useless Beauty
All This Useless Beauty
All This Useless Beauty is the 17th studio album by the English rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released on compact disc as Warner Brothers 46198. It peaked at #28 on the UK album chart, and at #53 on the Billboard 200...
, but he was dropped from the label after the major corporate shakeup in the mid-90s.
The same year, after an extended period of inactivity following the death of guitarist and main writer Ricky Wilson
Ricky Wilson (American musician)
Ricky Helton Wilson was an American instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and musician. He was best known as the original guitarist and founding member of New Wave rock band the B-52s...
, The B-52s shot back to prominence with the album Cosmic Thing
Cosmic Thing
Cosmic Thing is the fifth studio album by New Wave band The B-52's, released in 1989. It contains the singles "Love Shack" and "Roam", which remain two of their most popular tunes...
. It was a Top 5 hit in the USA (#4) and the UK (#2) and went to #1 in Australia, where the group had enjoyed a strong following since their debut single "Rock Lobster
Rock lobster
Jasus edwardsii, the southern rock lobster, red rock lobster, or spiny rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found throughout coastal waters of southern Australia and New Zealand including the Chatham Islands. This species is commonly called crayfish or crays in New Zealand and in Māori...
"; they also scored three consecutive hit singles with "Love Shack
Love Shack
"Love Shack" is a single by rock band The B-52's. Originally released in 1989 from their album Cosmic Thing, the single was the band's biggest hit song and first million-copy seller...
" (#3 US, #1 Australia), "Roam" (US #3) and "Deadbeat Club" (US #30).
Warner Bros' most successful decade yet closed in sensational fashion. In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...
, who introduced her new single "Like a Prayer" in the lavish "Make A Wish" commercial—the first time a pop single had debuted in an advertisement and the first time such a commercial was given a worldwide satellite premiere. However Pepsi had no control over Madonna's own "Like A Prayer" music video, which debuted exclusively on MTV soon after—it generated heated criticism due to its provocative use of religious imagery and was condemned by the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. As a result, Pepsi withdrew the advertisement and canceled the endorsement deal—although Madonna was allowed to retain her US$5 million fee—but the controversy only heightened interest in the single and the album (also titled Like A Prayer). The single became Madonna's seventh US #1 and topped the chart in more than 30 other countries, and the album also went to #1, sold seven million copies worldwide and produced two more US Top 5 singles, establishing Madonna as the most successful female artist of the '80s and one of the most successful musical performers of all time.
1989-2004: the Time Warner era
In 1989 Time Inc.Time Inc.
Time Inc. is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications. It publishes 130 magazines, most notably its namesake, Time...
acquired Warner Communications and merged the two enterprises to create Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
in a deal valued at US$14 billion.
After a long period of relative stability that was notable in the cutthroat American music industry, the death of Steve Ross in late 1992 marked the start of a period of major upheaval at Warner Bros. Records.
R.E.M.'s second Warner album Out of Time
Out of Time (album)
Out of Time is the seventh album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on Warner Bros. Records in 1991. With Out of Time R.E.M.'s status grew from that of a cult band to a massive international act. The record topped the album sales charts in both the U.S...
(1991) consolidated their success, topping the charts in both the US and the UK and producing two major hit singles: "Losing My Religion
Losing My Religion
"Losing My Religion" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. The song was released as the first single from the group's 1991 album Out of Time. Based around a mandolin riff, "Losing My Religion" was an unlikely hit for the group, garnering heavy airplay on radio as well as on MTV due...
" became their biggest American single (#4 on Billboard Hot 100) and a hit in numerous other countries, and "Shiny Happy People
Shiny Happy People
"Shiny Happy People" is a song by the band R.E.M.. The song appeared on their 1991 album Out of Time and was released as a single in the same year. The song features guest backing vocals by Kate Pierson of the B-52's, who also has a prominent role in the song's music video.It peaked at #10 on the...
", a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK,; the group also won three categories at that year's Grammy Awards.
Prince's fortunes in the Nineties were mixed; he scored more hits and renewed his contract in 1992, but his relationship with Warner Bros. Records soon soured, climaxing in a highly publicized legal battle and his eventual departure from the label. Although his fourth film, Graffiti Bridge
Graffiti Bridge (film)
Graffiti Bridge is a 1990 drama/musical written, directed, and starring Prince. It is a sequel to his first film, Purple Rain, though notorious for its relatively low quality and poor performance at the box-office...
was panned by critics and bombed at the box office the album of the same name was very successful—it reached #6 on both the Billboard Hot 200 and R&B album chart and produced two US Top 20 singles. Diamonds and Pearls
Diamonds and Pearls
Diamonds and Pearls is the thirteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince, released October 1, 1991, on Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. It is his first album to have The New Power Generation, his backing band at the time, receive co-billing...
(1991) became one of the biggest albums of his career, reaching #3 in the USA, #2 in the UK and #1 in Australia, with five of the six singles lifted from the album becoming hits in the US and other countries, including "Cream", which became his fifth US #1.
Prince was appointed a vice-president of Warner Bros. Records when he re-signed with them in 1992, but soon regretted his decision. His next album—identified by the cryptic symbol on the cover later defined as "The Love Symbol" -- was another solid hit, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 and selling 2.8 million copies worldwide, but by now tensions were increasing. Warner Bros. wanted to release "7
7 (song)
"7" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation, from the 1992 Love Symbol Album. It features a sample of the 1967 Otis Redding and Carla Thomas duet, "Tramp".-Music video:...
" as his next single, but Prince successfully pushed for "My Name Is Prince
My Name is Prince
"My Name Is Prince" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation, from the 1992 Love Symbol album. The song is about Prince himself, and his musical prowess...
" and it was only a minor hit (#36 Hot 100, #23 R&B ); the follow-up "Sexy MF" was censored in the US because of the expletive in the chorus and did not even make the US Top 50 although it was a Top 5 hit in the UK and Australia. When eventually released, "7" became the only major US hit lifted from the album, peaking (appropriately) at #7.
Following the 3-disc compilation The Hits/The B-Sides
The Hits/The B-Sides
-Disc 2 :-Disc 3 :...
(1993), Prince stopped using his first name and started using only with the "Love Symbol" -- a decision that drew considerable ridicule from the media. Because this sign has no verbal equivalent, he was often derisively referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". By 1994, relations between The Artist and his record label had reached an impasse—in February WEA cancelled its distribution deal with Paisley Park
Paisley Park Records
Paisley Park Records was Prince's record label, associated with and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain...
, effectively putting the label out of business. Although released by an independent distributor, his next single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" reached #3 in the U.S. and topped the singles charts in the UK and Australia.
Prince had meanwhile prepared two new albums, Come and The Gold Experience; an early version of Come was rejected but Warner Bros. eventually accepted both albums, although they refused to issue them simultaneously. By this time Prince had launched a legal action to terminate his contract and gain ownership of his master recordings, and he publicised his views by appearing in public with the word "SLAVE" written across his right cheek. Come (1994) was moderately successful in the USA (#15, gold record) and the single "Letitgo
Letitgo
"Letitgo" is a song by Prince from his 1994 album Come. Despite statements that the album consisted entirely of "old" material, "Letitgo" was actually newly composed for the album. The mid-tempo song relies heavily on a drum machine pattern and bass guitar with synthesizers in the refrain. A...
" reached #10 on the R&B chart, although the album was a major hit in the UK, debuting at #1. In November Warner released a limited edition of The Black Album, but it was already widely bootlegged, sold poorly and was soon deleted. The Gold Experience
The Gold Experience
The Gold Experience is the seventeenth studio album by Prince . It was released on September 26, 1995...
(1995) was hailed by some reviewers as Prince's best effort since Sign o' the Times; it included "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" and produced two other charting singles, "I Hate U
I Hate U
"I Hate U" is a song by Prince from his 1995 album The Gold Experience. The track was the lead single in support of the album, released on September 12, 1995...
" (US #11 and "Gold" UK #10). Prince's remarkable career with Warner Bros. ended with Chaos and Disorder
Chaos and Disorder
Chaos and Disorder is the eighteenth studio album by Prince . It was his final album of new material for Warner Bros. Records and was therefore produced as a collection of leftovers only put on record to fulfill contractual obligations...
(1996), compiled expressly to end his contract. It was one of his least successful releases but still managed to reach #26 in the USA and #14 in the UK and produced one minor hit, "Dinner With Delores" (#36 UK). Prince subsequently released recordings on his own NPG label (via EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
) before eventually signing with Universal Music in 2005.
R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People
Automatic for the People
Automatic for the People is the eighth album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1992 on Warner Bros. Records. While R.E.M...
(1992) cemented their status as one of the top bands of the period and was the most successful album of their career, reaching #1 in the UK and #2 in the US, selling more than 10 million copies worldwide and generating three US hit singles, "Drive
Drive (R.E.M. song)
"Drive" was the lead single and first track from R.E.M.'s eighth studio album Automatic for the People in 1992. Although it was not as successful as previous lead singles "Losing My Religion," "Stand," or "The One I Love" in the United States, it became R.E.M.'s then second biggest hit on the UK...
", "Man on the Moon
Man on the Moon (song)
"Man on the Moon" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released as the second single from its 1992 album Automatic for the People. The song makes numerous references to the performer Andy Kaufman, including his Elvis impersonation and work with wrestlers Fred Blassie and Jerry...
", and "Everybody Hurts
Everybody Hurts
"Everybody Hurts" is a song by R.E.M., originally released on the band's 1992 album Automatic for the People and was also released as a single in 1993. It peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, #7 on the UK Singles Chart and #3 on the French Singles Chart.-History:Much of the song was written by...
".
During 1992 WBR faced one of the most serious controversies in its history over the provocative recording "Cop Killer
Cop Killer (song)
"Cop Killer" is a song by American band Body Count, from its 1992 self-titled debut album. The lyrics are sung from the point of view of an individual who is outraged by police brutality and decides to take the law into his own hands by killing police officers...
" from the self-titled album by Body Count
Body Count
Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1990. The group is fronted by rapper and actor Ice-T, who founded the group out of his interest in heavy metal music, taking on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs. Lead guitarist...
, a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
/rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
fusion band led by Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
. Unfortunately for Warner Bros., the song (which mentions the Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
case) came out just before the controversial acquittal of the police charged with King's beating, which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
and the confluence of events put the song under the national spotlight. Complaints escalated over the summer—conservative police associations called for a boycott of Time Warner products, politicians including President George W. Bush denounced the label for releasing the song, Warner executives received death threats, Time Warner stockholders threatened to pull out of the company and the New Zealand police commissioner unsuccessfully tried to have the record banned there. Although Ice-T later voluntarily reissued Body Count without "Cop Killer", the furore seriously rattled Warner Music and in January 1993 WBR made an undisclosed deal releasing Ice-T from his contract and returning the Body Count
Body Count
Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1990. The group is fronted by rapper and actor Ice-T, who founded the group out of his interest in heavy metal music, taking on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs. Lead guitarist...
master tapes to him. In the wake of the "Cop Killer" affair, Warner Bros. distanced itself from gangsta rap
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
and in late 1995 it sold its 50% stake in Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
and its controversial subsidiary Death Row Records
Death Row Records
Death Row Records is a record label founded in 1991 by Marion "Suge" Knight Jr., Andre Young , Tracy Lynn Curry and Michael Harris . It is known to have been home to many popular West Coast hip hop artists such as Dr...
(Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
, Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
) back to co-owners Jimmy Iovine
Jimmy Iovine
James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...
and Ted Field. Iovine and Field quickly aligned Interscope with the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
; the label, now known as Interscope-Geffen-A&M
Interscope-Geffen-A&M
Interscope-Geffen-A&M is an umbrella label, owned by Universal Music Group. The company was formed in 1999, when Geffen Records and A&M Records were merged into Interscope Records—the flagship imprint of the operation....
following the merger of several Universal imprints, is still run by Iovine today.
Some relief came later that year when comedian Jeff Foxworthy
Jeff Foxworthy
Jeffrey Marshall "Jeff" Foxworthy is an American comedian, television and radio personality and author. He is a member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also comprises Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White. Known for his "you might be a redneck" one-liners, Foxworthy...
revived Warner Bros.' success with comedy recordings; his debut album You Might Be a Redneck If... was a major hit in the US and Canada, and both it and his follow-up album sold more than three million copies each.
End of an era: Ostin and Waronker depart
During 1994-95 Warner Bros' successes and problems with its artists were overshadowed by a protracted period of highly publicized internecine strife, centering on Warner Music Group chairman Robert J. Morgado and his successor Michael J. FuchsMichael J. Fuchs
Michael J. Fuchs isan American executive producer for premium cable television network HBO.-Career:Fuchs is the son of Charles Fuchs a Real Estate Executive...
. In September 1993 Ostin began negotiations to renew his contract and it was at this point that Morgado unveiled his plan for major a corporate shakeup of the Warner group. This triggered a series of damaging corporate conflicts and in particular created a fatal rift between Morgado and Ostin. The first major casualty was Elektra chairman Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow
Bob Krasnow is a leading music industry entrepreneur. His early career included working as a promotions man for James Brown and sales representative for Decca Records. In the early 1960s, Krasnow founded MK Records, which released the novelty record "," a parody of the 1960 presidential campaign...
, who resigned abruptly in July 1994.
For many years Ostin had reported directly to Time Warner chairman Steve Ross (and then to Ross's successor Gerald Levin) but Morgado now insisted that Ostin should report to him, and he established a new division, Warner Music US, headed by Doug Morris
Doug Morris
Doug Morris is an American music executive. He is the current Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of the Universal Music Group from 1995 to 2011.-Life and career:...
, to oversee the three main record labels. Fearing the loss of autonomy and worried that he would be obliged to implement Morgado's "slash-and-burn" policy to streamline the label's staff and artist roster, he refused to carry out Morgado's orders and decided not to renew his contract. Ostin officially stepped down from Warner Bros. when his contract expired on 31 December 1994, although he stayed on as a senior consultant to Time Warner's chairman until August 1995. He later commented:
Ostin's departure sent shockwaves through the company and the industry, and elicited glowing tributes from colleagues and competitors like Joe Smith and Clive Davis
Clive Davis
Clive Davis is an American record producer and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer. From 1967 to 1973 he was the President of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975...
, and musicians like Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
and R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
. It also triggered an exodus of Warner executives who had joined the company primarily because of Ostin. Next to go was Lenny Waronker—he was initially designated to succeed Ostin as chairman but he ultimately declined the job and left WBR soon after. After a period of uncertainty and speculation, the two joined forces to establish a new label, DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records
DreamWorks Records was an American record label. Founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks SKG, the label operated until 2005 when it was shut down...
. Waronker was replaced by ex Atlantic Records president Danny Goldberg, but his tenure proved short. Long-serving WBR executive Russ Thyret, who had joined the label in 1971 and worked closely with Mo Ostin for many years, was promoted to Vice-Chairman in January 1995.
Gerald Levin forced Morgado to resign in May 1995 and he was replaced by HBO
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
chairman Michael J. Fuchs
Michael J. Fuchs
Michael J. Fuchs isan American executive producer for premium cable television network HBO.-Career:Fuchs is the son of Charles Fuchs a Real Estate Executive...
. Fuchs sacked Morris a month later (sparking a US$50m breach of contract suit) and Warner Music US was dissolved. Morris' removal led to speculation that Ostin was being courted to return to WBR, but these reports proved unfounded, since Ostin and Waronker moved to DreamWorks soon after. Morris moved to MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
.
Despite his close ties to Morris, Danny Goldberg was initially told he could remain as WBR president but he left the company in August 1995 after negotiating a settlement with Time Warner to terminate his five-year, US$20 million contract, which still had four years to run. He was subsequently appointed president of Polygram subsidiary Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in October. Following Goldberg's departure Russ Thyret was promoted to Chairman, CEO and label president. Fuchs himself was forced out of Time Warner on November 1995. In May 1997 Phil Quartararo took over as president of WBR, only weeks after he had left EMI's Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
following a management shake-up there.
The departure of the team led by Ostin and Waronker also meant that many of the Warner artists whose careers they had nurtured and curated over the previous 30 years were now deprived of their patronage. As a result, by the year 2000 many of the "flagship" Warner acts of the Ostin/Waronker years left the label as their contracts expired. Ry Cooder was dropped in 1995 and Randy Newman followed Ostin and Waronker to DreamWorks, departing with a wry comment on his own status and the recent turmoil at Warner Bros:
Although never rising beyond "cult" status in terms of his sales as a solo artist, one of the most notable survivors from the Ostin era was Van Dyke Parks, who continued to release albums on Warners Bros - Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose (album)
Tokyo Rose is a 1989 album by American musician Van Dyke Parks. The album concerns the intersection between Japanese and American cultures, particularly as reflected in the competitive "Trade War" of the 1980s...
(1989), the Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
collaboration Orange Crate Art
Orange Crate Art
Orange Crate Art is a 1995 album by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks released on Warner Bros. Records, where Parks has been contracted since 1967....
(1995) and the live album Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove
Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove
Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove is a 1998 live album by Van Dyke Parks, containing reworkings of several of his previous compositions as well as many interpretations of other musicians work...
(1998). In 2004 Parks reunited with Brian Wilson to complete their long-shelved collaboration, Smile
Smile (Brian Wilson album)
Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP...
, which was released on the Nonesuch label to universal critical praise, winning a Grammy award, and making the Top 20 in the US and Top 10 in the UK, where it earned a gold record award.
In early 2001 there was a major restructure of the Warner Music Group; about 600 positions were eliminated across the three labels, and an executive reshuffle led to the departures of Thyret and Quartararo (as well as Reprise president Howie Klein) and the hiring of then-Interscope
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
president Tom Whalley as head of Warner Bros. Records. In August Whalley appointed Jeff Ayeroff as Creative Director of Warner Bros. Records and Creative Consultant to Warner Music Group. Ayeroff had previously been WBR's Senior Vice-President and Creative Director from 1983–86, overseeing many successful album covers and music videos in that period.
2004-present: Warner Music Group
In 2003, amid management disputes, sagging share prices and rising alarm about the impact of digital file sharingFile sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digitally stored information, such as computer programs, multimedia , documents, or electronic books. It may be implemented through a variety of ways...
, Time Warner decided to unload its music operations. In March 2004, Time Warner's music assets were acquired by private equity group headed by Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....
, Lexa Partners (led by Edgar Bronfman Jr., who put up US$150 million drawn from his family's stake in Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
), Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
and Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners is a global private equity investment firm focused on media, entertainment, communications and information investments...
. The deal set the group's value at around US$2.6 billion, payable in cash and other considerations, and it included an option that would allow Time Warner to buy back in if conditions proved favorable. Bronfman, Lee, Bain and Providence had reportedly recouped their investment by May 2006 through dividends, refinancing and a share offer floated in May 2005.
Today Warner Bros. Records remains one of Warner Music Group's dominant labels, with around 120 artists on its roster.
Despite the divestiture, WMG currently enjoys a royalty-free license from Time Warner for the use of Warner Bros. trademarks, although this could be revoked if WMG comes under control of a major motion picture studio.
In 2006 the Warner Music Group signed a licensing and revenue-sharing deal with internet video service YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. According to a New York Times report, this reflected ongoing efforts by YouTube to deal with the fact that many of its user-generated video clips include copyrighted music and images sourced from commercial TV and film productions. Under the agreement, YouTube would use special software to identify recordings used in videos posted by users and then offer the owner of the copyrighted content a percentage of the fee for advertising that would run alongside the clip. The deal also allowed the copyright owner to demand that YouTube remove the clip.
In October 2007 Madonna ended her 25-year association with Sire and Warner Bros., becoming the inaugural artist on a new label established by American concert promoter Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
. Under the terms of the new US$120 million, 10-year contract, which Warner was unable to match, Madonna reportedly received a signing bonus of about US$18 million and an approximate US$17 million advance for each of three albums, with Live Nation also agreeing to pay US$50 million in cash and stock to promote each Madonna tour.
American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
judge Kara DioGuardi
Kara DioGuardi
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance, and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; her songs have appeared on more than 159...
was appointed to vice president of A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
in 2008.
In February 2010 Madonna’s long-serving publicist Liz Rosenberg
Liz Rosenberg
Liz Rosenberg is an American poet, novelist, children's book author, and book reviewer. She is currently a professor of English at Binghamton University, and in previous years has taught at Colgate University, Sarah Lawrence College, Hamilton College, Bennington College, and Hollins College...
, a 39-year veteran of WBR, left the label to start her own firm.
Current
- 1017 Brick Squad Records (2010–present)
- A&E RecordsA&E RecordsA&E Records is an United Kingdom-based record label imprint, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under the WEA International group of labels at WMG....
(formerly Mushroom Records UK) (2003–present) - Action Theory Records (2009–present)
- Asylum RecordsAsylum RecordsAsylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
(2009–present) - A Band ApartA Band ApartA Band Apart Films was a production company created by Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, which was active from 1991 to about 2006. Its name is a play on the French New Wave classic, Bande à part by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, whose work was highly influential on the work of the company's members...
(1997–present) - Beluga Heights (2008–present)
- Black Wall Street Records (2004–present)
- Blacksmith RecordsBlacksmith RecordsBlacksmith Music is a record label headed by Harlem born Corey Smyth and Talib Kweli of Black Star. Signees include Jean Grae, Strong Arm Steady and Idle Warship and Kweli has stated he hopes to sign Camp Lo and had expressed interest in Rakim. Talib Kweli announced that there will be a 'BlackSmith...
(2005–present) - BME RecordingsBME RecordingsBME Recordings is an American record label founded by Lil Jon, Rob Mac, Emperor Searcy, and Vince Phillips Warner Bros. Records is the distributor for BME recordings...
(2004–present) - Brute/Beaute Records (2005–present)
- BTNH WorldwideBTNH WorldwideBTNH Worldwide is an independent record label started by hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Composed of Krayzie Bone, Flesh-N-Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone, BTNH Worldwide was created because of freedom of album concept not being handled adequately by previous record labels such as...
(2009–present) - Collective Sounds (2011-present)
- Doghouse RecordsDoghouse RecordsDoghouse Records is a Toledo, Ohio based record label, now run out of the New York City office. Since 2004 Doghouse has been a part of the Warner Music Group....
(2004–present) - Decaydance RecordsDecaydance RecordsDecaydance Records is a record label based in New York City. Originally founded as an imprint of Fueled by Ramen, it is now an independent record label owned by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy and partners. The first band Wentz signed to the label was Panic! at the Disco...
(2005–present) - Festival Mushroom Records (2005–present)
- Heiress Records (2004–present)
- Jet Life Recordings (2011–present)
- Machine Shop RecordingsMachine Shop RecordingsMachine Shop Recordings is a record label founded by Linkin Park bandmembers Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda. The label was originally known as "The Shinoda Imprint", named after Mike Shinoda, but was changed in 2002 when other Linkin Park members became more involved. Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson run...
(2002–present) - Malpaso Records (1995–present; status unknown)
- Maybach Music GroupMaybach Music GroupMaybach Music Group is a record label founded by Rick Ross, currently distributed by Warner Bros. Records, which took over distribution following the expiration of a deal with Def Jam Recordings....
(2011–present) - Loveway Records (2009–present)
- Maverick RecordsMaverick RecordsMaverick Recording Company is an American record label owned and operated by Warner Music Group, and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:...
(1991–present) - Nonesuch RecordsNonesuch RecordsNonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...
(2004–present) - Perezcious Music (2009–present)
- Playmaker MusicPlaymaker MusicPlaymaker Music is an American record label, founded by producer Chadron Moore in 2007. It operates through, and is distributed by, Warner Music Groups’ Warner Bros. Records.-History:...
(2007–present) - Public Broadcasting ServicePublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(1998–present; current status unknown) - Record CollectionRecord CollectionRecord Collection is a Venice, CA based music entertainment and production company, owned by Jordan Tappis and David Sardy. Record Collection is home to a diverse catalog which includes music from artists such as former Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante, The Walkmen, Murs, Blake...
(2003–present) - Reprise RecordsReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
(1963–present) - RuffNation RecordsRuffNation RecordsRuffNation Records is a joint venture record label between Chris Schwartz and Warner Bros. Records. It was started after Ruffhouse Records was dissolved.-External links:***...
(1998–present) - Sire RecordsSire RecordsSire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
(1978–1995, 2003–present) - Teleprompt RecordsTeleprompt RecordsTeleprompt Records LLC is an independent record label that was formed in 2003 by producer Tedd T, keyboardist and Mutemath vocalists Paul Meany, and lawyer/manager Kevin Kookogey. The label was forged with the sole intention of promoting and distributing music for Meany's start up project Mutemath...
(2003–present) - Thee West Entertainment (2011–present)
- Word RecordsWord RecordsWord Records is a Christian record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a division of Word Entertainment , which, itself is co-owned by Warner Music Group and Curb Records...
(2002–present) - Young N Charge Inc (2011–present)
- Serjical Strike RecordsSerjical Strike RecordsSerjical Strike Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operates under Universal Republic Records.-Background:...
(2007–present)
Former
- 4AD Records (1992–1998) (US only)
- American Recordings (1988–1997 [US], 2005–2007 [worldwide])
- Autumn RecordsAutumn RecordsAutumn Records was a 1960s San Francisco-based pop record label. Its most prominent contract was considered The Beau Brummels, a band who released a pair of top 20 singles, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just a Little"....
(1963–1965) - Bearsville RecordsBearsville RecordsBearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
(1970–1984) - Capricorn RecordsCapricorn RecordsCapricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
(1972–1977), (1990–1995) - Cold Chillin' RecordsCold Chillin' RecordsCold Chillin' Records was a record label that released some important music in the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. A producer-and-crew label founded by manager Tyrone Williams and run by Len Fichtelberg Cold Chillin' Records was a record label that released some...
(1987–1994) - Dark Horse RecordsDark Horse RecordsDark Horse Records is a record label founded by George Harrison in 1974.-History:Harrison had recorded for EMI under a contract which expired in 1976. All his subsequent recordings were released through Dark Horse Records, starting with Thirty Three & 1/3 in 1976 and ending with Live in Japan in 1992...
(1976–1992) - ECM RecordsECM (record label)ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
(?–1984) - Extasy International RecordsExtasy RecordsExtasy Records is a Japanese record label founded in April 1986 by Yoshiki Hayashi, co-founder of the heavy metal band X Japan...
(2000–2004) - Full Moon Records (1974–1992)
- F-111 Records (1995–2001)
- Geffen RecordsGeffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
(1980–1990) - Giant Records and its subsidiaries the Medicine Label (1993–1995), Paladin, Revolution (1990–2001)
- Loma RecordsLoma RecordsLoma Records was a sublabel of Warner Bros. Records ran by Bob Krasnow. Its name was derived from Loma Avenue, where its offices were held. It was started as an entry into the R&B market....
(1964–1968 and one boutique release in 2003) - Luaka Bop Records (1988–2000)
- Metal Blade RecordsMetal Blade RecordsMetal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
(1988–1993) - Music for Little People (1990–1995)
- Opal Records (1987–1993)
- Paisley Park RecordsPaisley Park RecordsPaisley Park Records was Prince's record label, associated with and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain...
(1985–1994) - Premeditated Records (middle 1990s)
- Raybaw Records (2005–2008)
- Qwest RecordsQwest RecordsQwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned byWarner Music Group. although Quincy was still under contract with A&M records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest,...
(1980–2000) - Slash RecordsSlash RecordsSlash Records is a record label in Los Angeles, originally specializing in local and punk rock bands.The label was formed in 1978 by Bob Biggs as an outgrowth of the Los Angeles-based fanzine, Slash. Biggs, a painter, initiated the label with a seven-inch single from The Germs in 1978. A full album...
(1982–1996) - Tommy Boy RecordsTommy Boy RecordsTommy Boy Entertainment is an independent record label started in 1981 by Tom Silverman.-History:...
(1985–2002) - Valiant RecordsValiant RecordsValiant Records was an independent record company co-owned by Four Star Television which was sold in 1967 to Warner Bros. Records.Valiant Records was never fully independent, for most of its existence, its distributor was ABC Records before Warners took it over distribution in 1965 and then...
(1960–1966) - Warner AllianceWarner AllianceWarner Alliance was a Contemporary Christian imprint of Warner Music Group. Its operations were suspended in 1998. Artists on the label included Billy & Sarah Gaines, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Caedmon's Call, Donnie McClurkin, First Call, Wayne Watson, Take 6, Mid South, and the Worldwide...
(?–1998)
Artists
See also
- List of record labels
- List of Warner Bros. Records artists
- Reprise RecordsReprise RecordsReprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
External links
- Edward West Vice President of Warner Bros. Records Inc 1973
- Video Interview with Bill Bennett – CEO & President of Warner Bros. Records Nashville
- The Warner Bros. Records Story from BSN Pubs. – includes links to comprehensive Warner Bros. album discographies, 1958–1983
- Discography of Loma Records