- George Goldner
George Goldner (1918–1970) was a
record company owner and promoter.Early life
Goldner was born in
New York City and originally made his living as a garment dealer. His secret love for Latin music led to him running dance halls beginning in the early 1940s.Tico Records
In the late 1940s, Golder formed his first record label,
Tico Records . In promoting his records, he resorted to paying DJs at radio stations to play his records. This practice came to be known aspayola .Tito Puente is the most famous recording artist on Tico.Morris Levy
In a recurring pattern, Goldner's expensive gambling habit would lead to him selling part or all of his record company to
Morris Levy , another dance hall owner. Goldner and Levy formedRama Records , which would record rhythm & blues.The Crows ' hit "Gee" on Rama would inspire another record label,Gee Records , whose most successful act wasFrankie Lymon & The Teenagers . Other labels Goldner would help establish includedGone Records ,End Records , and the longest lasting of his labels,Roulette Records . All of these labels would wind up under Morris Levy's ownership to cover Goldner's gambling debts. [http://www.spectropop.com/tico/TICOpart2.htm]It's worth noting that Goldner recorded some of the most important East Coast doo wop music of the 1950's including records by
The Crows ,The Wrens andThe Valentines (forRama ),The Cleftones ,The Five Crowns ,Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers andThe Heartbeats (for Gee),The Chantels ,Little Anthony & The Imperials ,The Starlighters , andThe Flamingos (for End) andThe Dubs ,The Channels ,The Isley Brothers andThe Trickles (for Gone).Red Bird Records
Goldner's last successful label,
Red Bird Records and itsBlue Cat Records subsidiary, was actually co-founded byJerry Leiber andMike Stoller . Goldner was made a partner in the company and did the promoting of Red Bird releases while Leiber & Stoller worked on production. Red Bird only lasted two years, as Leiber & Stoller wanted to get out of the record business, and Goldner again developed big gambling debts which led the Mob to occupy the Red Bird offices. Leiber & Stoller sold their interest in Red Bird Records to Goldner for $1 and left in a hurry. The Red Bird catalogue (except for releases byThe Shangri-Las whose contract was sold toMercury Records ) was sold to Morris Levy's Roulette Records.Goldner died of a heart attack on April 15, 1970.
External links
* [http://www.bsnpubs.com/roulette/goldner.html The George Goldner Story]
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