By Julian (152.163.252.68) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:49 am: |
Did he own/run the Flame Show Bar AND Brunswick Records? Two different people? Wrong person? Inquiring mind wants to know.
By Eli (141.152.252.122) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 01:01 am: |
Al Greene was in fact both but, was "bought out" by Nat Tarnopol who used strongarm tactics to achieve this.
The dealings of Tarnapol were known far and wide.
BTW.. Brunswick dates back to the 1920's and was later bought by Decca.
Tarnopol basically revived the imprint and it was not the same company, per se.
By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.34) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:35 am: |
Al Green (note the spelling) didn't own Brunswick
- the label which, as Bobby says, dates back to
the twenties was owned by Decca in the fifties,
was revived for about a year in '52 then revived again in '55 to act as an additional outlet for
tracks which Decca management didn't think were#
suitable for the main Decca or Coral labels (read
unsuitable = r&B or r&r.
Nat Tarnopol was given half the label by Decca
in '61 or '62 as an inducement to resign Jackie
Wilson to Decca. By that time he was just about the only act on Brunswick's books so from Decca's point of view they werent't giving much more than a name away - if Wilson hadn't resigned the label
would almost cerrtainly have been wound up.
Did he own the Flame Show Bar - I don't know,
he was Lavern Baker's manager before signing up
Jackie Wilson - his acts played at the Flame
but whether or not he actually owned it ....
By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 11:50 am: |
Brunswick Records was founded in 1920 by the same family/company that manufactured amusement games (bowling balls, billiard/pool tables). They sold the label at the height of the Great Depression.
The label went through many phases of ownership, from Warner Brothers to Columbia Records to Decca Records in the 1950s.
It was Bob Thiele - who oversaw Coral Records' A&R at the time - who revived the Brunswick name when it was clear that Decca Records wanted to get into the rock & roll business but didn't want to release the music under the Decca banner (see Davie Gordon's comments). For example, Buddy Holly & the Crickets' releases came out through Coral (Buddy Holly) and Brunswick (the Crickets), but not through Decca (although the latter transferred the Holly/Crickets masters to Decca in the mid 1960s).
As for Tarnopol, he was Al Green's "assistant" in Green's management firm. According to interviews with both Bob Thiele and Dick Jacobs (prior to their deaths), Nat became Jackie's manager when Green died in 1957 the day after Jackie signed to the label (circumstances/cause of death still remain unclear and unknown to the public)and had acquired an ownership share of the label in 1960 (how Tarnopol did this is no mystery to many, therefore Bobby Eli's comments are not off the mark).
Brunswick remained under co-ownership of Decca/MCA and Tarnopol until 1970, when the latter acquired full control of the label and it became an independent company.
For more info regarding the label, check out this from the folks at Both Sides Now publications.
http://www.bsnpubs.com/brunswick.
As for Al Green & the Flame Show Bar, I would defer to the Detroit historians such as Lars Bjorn & Jim Gallert (the authors of Before Motown: A History of Jazz In Detroit) for info regarding Green & the Bar. I've read some sources that named Green as either the owner and/or the manager of the "Flame" I would rather rely on folks such as Gallert & Bjorn. I do know that Green had a music publishing concern that Tarnopol later took over.
Kevin Goins - KevGo
By Rasputin (68.42.158.155) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 06:45 pm: |
Question .... wasn't there a Flame Show Bar on 12th St. back in the late '60s?
By David C. (67.104.175.114) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:50 am: |
The Flame Show Bar was owned by Morris Wasserman. Al Green was the manager.
By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 - 10:55 am: |
David C:
Thanks for the clarification.
Kevin Goins - KevGo