Ilene Berns ('' née'' Holub; May 1, 1943 – February 20, 2017) was a record company director. Born to a Jewish family in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio, Berns worked as a

go-go dancer Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken ...

in New York City nightclubs before meeting her husband

Bert Berns Bertrand Russell Berns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include " Twist and Shout", " Piec ...

, the songwriter and record producer and founder of

Bang Records Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. The first letters of their names (Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) formed the label's name. Forming the ...

. They had three children. Bert died of heart failure on December 30, 1967, leaving Ilene as a 24-year-old widow. She subsequently re-released material from such Bang Records artists as

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

and Neil Diamond, and discovered

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

singer-songwriter Paul Davis. She relocated Bang Records to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia in 1970 and presided over a decade of success with Davis (" Ride 'Em Cowboy", "I Go Crazy", "Sweet Life"); she also signed and developed Atlanta-based R&B funk group Brick (" Dazz") and singer-songwriter

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

. She then found

David L Cook David L. Cook (born November 11, 1968) is an American Christian country music singer, songwriter and comedian. Born to Donnell and June (née Mercer) Cook, David is the oldest of six children. He has written more than 2,500 songs and has won ...

who came from a long line of recording artists which included the Grand Ole Opry stars,

The Cook Family Singers The Cook Family Singers were originally formed in 1885 by David J Cook and his wife Martha, who hailed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They had six children, and on Sunday afternoons after church they would pass time by perfecting their singing ...

. David was primarily brought onto the label because of his youth which brought a different flair to the label's roster and the additional fact that his vocals sounded almost identical to that of Paul Davis which came in handy later with recordings that needed stacking or voice overs. Berns sold Bang Records to Columbia Records in 1979. She died in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, in February 2017, aged 73.

References

1943 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American Jews American music industry executives Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) Businesspeople from Cleveland 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women {{US-music-bio-stub