| Author | Message | ||
  Graham Finch (acooolcat) 5-Doyen Username: acooolcat Post Number: 201 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 210.200.105.229 |
Does anyone know which record company Mr Talmadge was working for in the early 1960s? TIA | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1536 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 152.163.252.200 |
Art Talmadge started and ran Musicor records. He also was the a&r vp who signed berry Gordy's product to U.A. when he worked there. | ||
Graham Finch (acooolcat) 5-Doyen Username: acooolcat Post Number: 203 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 210.200.105.225 |
Thanks, Eli. Does anyone know which year Musicor started? | ||
douglasm (douglasm) 4-Laureate Username: douglasm Post Number: 144 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.118.222.193 |
Mr. Eli.... ...Didn't Aaron Schroeder run Musicor along with Art Talmadge? Some Gene Pitney material I have implies that Talmadge was associated with United Artists Records at the time Musicor came about, and that UA was half owner of Musicor. I'd guess the start date for Musicor was 1961, because Pitney was one of their early artists. Don't take this as gospel, though. doug | ||
Mark Speck (mark_speck) 5-Doyen Username: mark_speck Post Number: 191 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 4.159.134.26 |
Schroeder did have something to do with the running of Musicor, probably the day-to-day running of the label. UA distributed the label for the first couple of years, so they may have had some part-ownership. Eventually, Talmadge had a bigger role in running Musicor. You'll note that on the 45s from about '65 onward, the label bears the legend 'A Division of Talmadge Productions' or something similar. Schroeder later founded the Aurora label with Amy/Mala/Bell distribution. A couple of people involved with Musicor, Jimmy Radcliffe and Al Kooper, both cut singles for the label. Kooper's on the Yahoo Spectropop list, so I'll ask him about the specifics of who founded/owned Musicor. Best, Mark | ||
Graham Finch (acooolcat) 5-Doyen Username: acooolcat Post Number: 204 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 210.200.105.229 |
Thanks, Doug and Mark... please let us know what Al Kooper has to say. | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 207 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 80.225.154.29 |
Musicor was originally a partnership of Art Talmadge and Aaron Schroeder but they had outside interests - Schroeder was busy in publishing and I believe had some involvement in the Big Top label. The label was launched around October '60 - a sixteen year-old Al Kooper had the first release (Musicor 1001)masquerading as Leo DeLyon and the Muscle Men. Musicor 1002 was "I Wanna Love My Life Away" by Gene Pitney who would become the label's mainstay. Talmadge was originally from the West Coast where he worked in record distribution - he was appointed president of United Artists' record division in the late fifties (1959?) which explains why UA was the initial distributor for Musicor. Talmadge worked closely with country producer Pappa Daily that's why there are so many country records on Musicor - George Jones and Tommy Cash among them - something you wouldn't really expect from a New York based label. Talmadge had been a vice-president in charge of A&R at Mercury in '55 to late 58 or early '59 which is how he knew Daily - Daily's Starday label was distributed by Mercury. Incidentally Talmadge was the man who gave Clyde Otis his job as A&R man at Mercury - he'd also taken on Nat Tarnopol as a producer. Schroeder's involvement was tailing off by late '63 - he'd signed Gene Pitney but by this time Pitney was essentially his own producer. I'd guess he'd left Musicor completely by '65 when he set up the Aurora label. Art Talmadge probably bought him out then kept the label running until the mid-seventies. Al Kooper would probably know about Aaron Schroeder's final days at Musicor as they were good friends. Incidentally Al's autobiography "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards" is a really good read - he's had a fascinating career and is also a really nice guy who has never lost his love for music despite being having been through the mangle that is the record business. | ||
dvdmike (dvdmike) 5-Doyen Username: dvdmike Post Number: 357 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 65.208.234.85 |
Aaron Schroeder produced Gene Pitney's early Musicor records. Were they done at Mirasound or Bell Sound. Mirasound was basically a hole in the wall, but some great records were made there. Phil Spector produced Pitney on "Every Breath I Take." | ||
douglasm (douglasm) 4-Laureate Username: douglasm Post Number: 146 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.118.222.193 |
Gawd, what a performer. Pitney's voice and delivery sends chills up my spine. One of the things I gathered about Musicor was that UA had a 50% stake in it. True? | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 209 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 80.225.148.83 |
Douglas - I don't think so. Talmadge as an individual owned 50% and he was at the time president, or at least an executive, of UA UA had it's own distribution network so it would've made sense to distribute Musicor through those channels but as for UA's direct financial involvement I doubt it. MIke, offhand I don't know - if I have time I'll see if I can find out. Davie | ||
Graham Finch (acooolcat) 5-Doyen Username: acooolcat Post Number: 205 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 210.200.105.226 |
Great info Davie! I really appreciate it. Thanks. | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1560 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.236.1.211 |
Aaron Schroder's offices are still in the 1650 Broadway bldg. I saw his name on the directory just the other day. | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1561 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.236.1.211 |
Gene Pitney told me that most of his stuff was recorded at Bell Sound. He also recorded in Italy for his ethnic stuff. BTW.. I first met Van mc Coy at the offices of Musicor on w. 55th sts in NYC. There was also a recording studio upstairs that the Jerome brothers ran. | ||
Mark Speck (mark_speck) 5-Doyen Username: mark_speck Post Number: 196 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 4.158.63.216 |
I believe Van produced the artist Billy T. Soul for Musicor. Billy had a record that got Northern spins entitled "Call On Billy". I think he did some other production work for Musicor/Dynamo as well--nothing's coming to me right now. Best, Mark | ||
Robb_K (robb_k) 6-Zenith Username: robb_k Post Number: 515 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 217.232.141.96 |
I believe you're right, Mark, that there were at least a couple other Van McCoy productions on Musicor or Dynamo. Maybe Van was also the reason Chris Bartley came to Musicor (although I don't remember Van's name on the Bartley records. | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1565 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.163.50.48 |
Mark, Was Billy T. Soul the same person as the late Billy T. Scott who worked with Taylor Dayne and others. He also worked with me on some projects including Locksmith, for Arista. | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 210 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 80.225.148.4 |
Bobby, "Billy T Soul"'s a bit of a mystery - obviously a pseudonym but so far nobody that I'm aware of has identified who he is. There's a Billy Soul who had records on King or Federal, can't remember which offhand - but he seems to be another singer. Van McCoy wasn't involved in Chris BArtley's Musicor single - the producer there was Ralph Murphy. The only Dynamo single I can think of that Van worked on was an Eddie Carlton which didn't get released until it cropped up on a compilation CD put out by Kent over here - it's one of the Kent CD's I don't have yet so I can't give you more details. Title was "Things Are Getting A Little Tough" - anybody want to check the booklet for details ? the CD's called "Kent's Magic Touch" Bobby, wasn't Eddie Carlton from Philly ? - he had earlier singles on Swan around '63-64. Davie | ||
Eli (phillysoulman) 6-Zenith Username: phillysoulman Post Number: 1568 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 68.163.50.48 |
Not sure about Eddie, Davie. Swan had so many off the wall records and a lot of them were master purchases from out of town sources. | ||
mike s (mike_s) 4-Laureate Username: mike_s Post Number: 157 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 195.93.33.7 |
Wsn't Aaron Schroeder strongly involved with Barry White on the publishing side? | ||
Robb_K (robb_k) 6-Zenith Username: robb_k Post Number: 554 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 82.217.153.9 |
Davie, Billy Soul on King/Federal sounds like a different singer to me. But Van's material is so different. Maybe he tried to sing it with another voice? | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 230 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.157.113.232 |
Robb, I haven't heard the guy on King / Federal but I very much doubt they're the same person. I haven't bothered trying to research it - just going by instinct. Davie | ||
Davie Gordon (davie_gordon) 5-Doyen Username: davie_gordon Post Number: 231 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 81.157.113.232 |
Mike, yes, Aaron Schroeder was in charge of Barry White's publishing - Barry was highly complimentary about him in his book. Davie | ||
Kevin Goins - KevGo (kevgo) 5-Doyen Username: kevgo Post Number: 191 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 64.33.205.135 |
Aaron Schroeder and his sister Abby relocated from NYC to LA during the late 1960s. According to Barry White's autobiography, he started a co-publishing deal with the Schroeders (Sa-Vette Music) because Barry didn't want to be just "a hired hand". The deal worked - the Schroeders still administer White's publishing to this day. Kevin Goins - KevGo | ||
Graham Finch (acooolcat) 5-Doyen Username: acooolcat Post Number: 227 Registered: 4-2004 Posted From: 210.200.105.229 |
Hi Kev - someone in England is trying to contact you. Please drop me a line. acoolcat@yahoo.com |
