- Ilene Berns
Ilene Berns Born (
May 1 ,1943 ) Cleveland, Ohio - record company director.Berns worked as a go-go dancer in
New York City nightclubs before meeting her husbandBert Berns , the songwriter and record producer and founder ofBang Records . Together they had three children (Brett, Cassandra and Mark) before Bert died ofheart failure on December 30, 1967.A widow at the age of twenty-four Berns set out to carry on her late husband's legacy. After re-releasing material from such Bang Records artists as
Van Morrison andNeil Diamond , she discoveredMississippi singer/songwriter Paul Davis. She relocated Bang Records toAtlanta, Georgia in 1970 and presided over a decade of success with Paul Davis ("Ride 'Em Cowboy," "I Go Crazy," "Sweet Life"); she also signed and developed Atlanta-basedR&B funk groupBrick ("Dazz") and singer/songwriterPeabo Bryson .Berns sold Bang Records to
Columbia Records in 1979 - leaving a legacy fulfilled by few women in the record business. The Berns family kept the music publishing operations (Web IV Music and Sloopy II Music) [http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4630849-1.html] which are currently run by one of her sons Brett Berns.
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