Bang Records was created by

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", "Piece ...

in 1965 together with his partners from

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

Nesuhi Ertegun Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International. Early life Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...

and

Jerry Wexler Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...

. The first letters of their names (Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) formed the label's name.

Forming the company

Berns had been staff producer at Atlantic Records for several years when he and Atlantic chief executives set out to create a new

independent label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represente ...

. In 1966, Berns took sole control of the company. At Bang he had an immediate string of hit records, including "

I Want Candy "I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by the Strangeloves in 1965 that reached No. 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It is a famous example of a song that uses the Bo Diddley beat. Original version "I Want Candy" ...

" by

the Strangeloves The Strangeloves were a band created in 1964 by the New York City, New York-based United States, American songwriter, songwriting and record producer, production team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein (producer), Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Go ...

, "

Hang On Sloopy "Hang On Sloopy" (originally "My Girl Sloopy") is a 1964 song written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record the tune in 1964. Atlantic Records released it as a single, which reached ...

" by

the McCoys The McCoys were a rock music, rock group formed in Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Originally named Rick and the Raiders, they changed their name to "The McCoys" from ...

, "

Brown Eyed Girl "Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Ho ...

" by

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

and " Solitary Man" and " Kentucky Woman" by

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

Death of Berns

When Berns died suddenly on December 30, 1967, as a result of a rheumatic heart condition, his wife

Ilene Berns Ilene Berns (''née'' Holub; May 1, 1943 – February 20, 2017) was an American record company director. Born to a Jewish family in Cleveland, Ohio, Berns worked as a go-go dancer in New York City nightclubs before meeting her husband Bert Ber ...

took over management. She believed that arguments with Van Morrison had been the cause of her husband's death, and made things difficult for the Irish artist until Warner Brothers managed to untangle him from his Bang contract, though with some awkward conditions, such as giving Bang three original recordings a month for a year. According to Van Morrison the tension arose because of the contract he signed with Bang Records without legal advice. Morrison states that he has never received any

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

for writing or recording "

". Others in the industry blame arguments, artistic differences and the ultimate loss of Neil Diamond, who was Bang's biggest artist. Diamond has said his departure from Bang had been over his direction as an artist, and away from his early "teenybopper" type of recordings that Berns favored, which led to his refusal to release the more introspective " Shilo" as a single, even though Diamond felt it was part of his development as an artist. In 1968, shortly after what was said to be a "tense" confrontation with Berns, Diamond departed Bang for Uni/MCA Records. By 1970, a few years after Berns' death, Diamond had racked up a few hits on the Uni subsidiary of MCA. That year Bang finally released "Shilo" as a single, which promptly hit the Top 40 charts. Berns' young widow signed singer/songwriter Paul Davis, who had a number of hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, including "

Ride 'Em Cowboy Ride 'Em Cowboy may refer to: * ''Ride 'Em Cowboy'' (1936 film), a 1936 Western film starring Buck Jones * ''Ride 'Em Cowboy'' (1942 film), a 1942 Abbott and Costello film * ''Ride 'Em Cowboy'' (song), a 1974 song written and recorded by Paul Da ...

", "I Go Crazy", "Sweet Life" and "Do Right". Ilene Berns also signed and developed R&B acts

Brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

Dazz "Dazz" is a song by R&B/funk band Brick. "Dazz" is a combination of disco, funk and jazz, hence the title "Dazz", a combination denominator for "Disco Jazz". Released in 1976 from their debut album ''Good High'', it would become their biggest hi ...

") and

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 hit singles " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "You're Looking Like ...

. Also in 1970 she hired promotion man Eddie Biscoe to help run Bang. They eventually married.

Development of the label

In 1971 Ilene moved Bang's base of operations from New York City to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. In the early years Bang did its own distribution. In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

Bang was sold to

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records, a former name of Sony Music, a global music company * CBS/Sony, a former name of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a Japanese music company division of Sony * CBS Records International, a label for Columbia Re ...

, and kept its identity as part of the CBS Associated unit until it was absorbed in 1982 by CBS'

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

unit. Over the years two subsidiary labels were started:

Shout Records Shout Records is a record company founded by songwriter and record producer Bert Berns in 1966. History Bert Berns was a founding father of the New York Uptown Soul genre, with rhythm and blues and soul music making up the vast majority of his ...

and

Bullet Records At least five record labels with the name Bullet Records have existed. Bullet Records, Nashville, 1946-1952 The earliest Bullet Records was a record label based in Nashville, United States, which was started in 1946 by Jim Bulleit and C.V. Hit ...

. While Sony Music owns the Bang Records catalog today, the Berns family still owns the music publishing operations. In

Columbia Records turned over control of Diamond's Bang master recordings to the artist himself, at the time one of the label's hottest stars, who has remixed and re-released them several times over the years and these masters are now owned by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

was the only artist who released an album with Bullet. His recordings with Bullet are now owned by

Revival attempt

Ilene Berns attempted to revive the Bang label as Bang II Records in the late 1990s under Sony Music Entertainment. Only two recordings were released:

Monty Holmes Monty Holmes (born in Lubbock, Texas) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Holmes signed to Bang II Records and released his debut album, ''All I Ever Wanted'', in 1998. Monty Holmesat Allmusic His highest charting single, "Why'd You ...

' ''All I Ever Wanted'' and Sleepy's Theme's ''The Vinyl Room''.

Bang Records artists

* Paul Davis *

* The Lost Souls *

The McCoys The McCoys were a rock music, rock group formed in Fort Recovery, Ohio, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Originally named Rick and the Raiders, they changed their name to "The McCoys" from ...

Nigel Olsson Nigel Olsson (born 10 February 1949) is an English drummer, best known for being a lifelong member of the Elton John Band. He has had an equally long career as a session musician and composed, recorded and produced albums as a solo artist. Ca ...

The Strangeloves The Strangeloves were a band created in 1964 by the New York City, New York-based United States, American songwriter, songwriting and record producer, production team of Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein (producer), Jerry Goldstein, and Richard Go ...

* Derek

References

External links

The Bang Records Story from BSN Pubs
{{Authority control Defunct record labels of the United States Record labels established in 1965 Record labels disestablished in 1982

Forming the company

Death of Berns

Development of the label

Revival attempt

Bang Records artists

See also

References

External links