Jeff Gold (born 1956) is an American music business executive, author, music historian,
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
winning art director, and music memorabilia collector and dealer.
Music Business
Gold was the first employee of
Rhino Records
A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
,
[Hart, Bill (10 November 2016) "Collectability, Sonics and "Essential" Records – Comparing Notes with Jeff Gold, Owner of Recordmecca" The Vinyl Press. Retrieved 2 February 2017](_blank)
/ref> and in 1975 produced the label's first release, "Go To Rhino Records" by Wild Man Fischer. In 1977 he signed former Thirteenth Floor Elevators' singer Roky Erickson to Rhino, overseeing his comeback single, "Bermuda/The Interpreter," and in 1981 signed Spirit to the label, supervising the release of their album The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land.""
In 1981 he joined A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
as assistant to president Gil Friesen; he was later promoted to vice president of marketing & creative services and worked with The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...
, Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...
, Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...
and Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...
. Gold wrote liner notes and helped compile albums by Cat Stevens, Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...
, and The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1968, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is known for its connection to band f ...
, and was editor of the book "A&M Records: The First 25 Years". Gold art directed album covers for numerous artists including The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
History
The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 19 ...
, Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...
, and John Hiatt
John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New wave music, new wave, blues, and country music, country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Gramm ...
,[All Music Jeff Gold credits. Retrieved 2 February 2017](_blank)
/ref> and in 1991 won a best album package Grammy Award for the Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of Folk music, folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the ...
album '' Days of Open Hand''.
In 1990 Gold joined Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
as senior vice president of creative services, working with artists including Seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, also called "true seal"
** Fur seal
** Eared seal
* Seal ( ...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...
, and art directed album covers for artists including Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
, Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
, Squeeze and New Order. He received Best Album Cover Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
nominations for his work on packages for R.E.M, ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...
, and Paul Westerberg
Paul Harold Westerberg (born December 31, 1959) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Replacements. Following the breakup of the Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him r ...
. He was an executive producer of the albums Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix (featuring Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
, Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...
, Seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, also called "true seal"
** Fur seal
** Eared seal
* Seal ( ...
, and The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...
) and the soundtrack to the Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...
movie '' Private Parts''.
In 1991 Gold had the idea to include a Rock The Vote
Rock the Vote is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the mo ...
petition postcard supporting the Motor Voter Bill on the back of the longbox for R.E.M's '' Out of Time'' CD, resulting in thousands of postcards being delivered to the United States Senate, and lending critical support to the eventual passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), also known as the Motor Voter Act, is a United States federal law signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 20, 1993, that came into effect on January 1, 1995. The law was enacted u ...
. The podcast 99% Invisible devoted an episode to the R.E.M longbox, noting "R.E.M.’s Out of Time is the most politically significant album in the history of the United States. Because of its packaging."
In 1993, Gold helped Warner Bros. Records establish the first online presence for a major record label, with dedicated Warner areas on AOL and CompuServe, and later the first website for a record company. Gold was instrumental in the Warner/Elektra/Atlantic labels decision to sell cd's without the much maligned longbox, leading to an industry-wide phase-out.
Gold was promoted to executive vice president/general manager of Warner Bros. Records in 1995, and left in 1998 in a management shakeup.
Author
In 2012 Gold's book ''101 Essential Rock Records: The Golden Age of Vinyl, From The Beatles to the Sex Pistols,'' was issued by Gingko Press; it was one of eight books selected by Rolling Stone as "The year's best reading material".
In 2016 Gold's book ''Total Chaos: The Story of The Stooges/As Told by Iggy Pop,'' was issued by Third Man Books, a division of Jack White's Third Man Records. It was chosen by Rough Trade as one of their ‘Books of the Year’, and earned rave reviews in Esquire, Mojo, Noisey, and many other publications.
Gold's book, ''Sittin' In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940's and 1950's,'' was issued in November 2020 by HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
. Including interviews with Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...
and Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...
, it was featured in the year-end wrap-ups of the best music books by ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...
'', ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'', All Music Guide, and ''The Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...
'', which called it "vivid and beautiful".
Music Historian
Gold was profiled by Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
magazine as one of the five top collectors of music memorabilia and named by Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
as a "leading expert on rare lp's". He was profiled in 2014 by the website Dust & Grooves.
Gold has served as a curatorial consultant to museum exhibitions including the Experience Music Project's Bob Dylan's American Journey: 1955-1966, and Beatlemania! He archived the papers of legendary music executive Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin (born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky; March 27, 1927 – July 31, 2022) was an American record executive. The chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records from 1972 to 1994 and co-founder of DreamWorks Records, he was inducted into the Rock an ...
for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
; and those of A&M Records co-founders Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...
and Jerry Moss
Jerome Sheldon Moss (May 8, 1935 – August 16, 2023) was an American recording executive, best known for being the co-founder of A&M Records, along with trumpet player and bandleader Herb Alpert.
Music career Early stages (1958–60)
After gr ...
for the University of California Los Angeles (U.C.L.A.) special collections library.
Gold was an appraiser on VH1's "Rock Collectors", and is profiled in the books ''Vinyl Junkies'' by Brett Milano, ''Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction To Its Own Past'' by Simon Reynolds, ''Why Vinyl Matters'' by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike (Jennifer Otter Bickerdike: Why Vinyl Matters, ACC Editions, 2017, pp. 208–213), and ''Iggy Pop & The Stooges: One Night at The Whisky 1970,'' by Ed Caraeff (Ed Caraeff: Iggy Pop & The Stooges: One Night at The Whiskey 1970, ACC Art Books, 2017, pp 113–117).
Gold has worked on archival and reissue album projects for artists including Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
, The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...
, The Stooges
The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...
and Gram Parsons
Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973), known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He recorded with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds, and the Flying Bu ...
. His discovery of previously undocumented live and studio outtake tapes has led to major label releases, including the Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
album In Concert—Brandeis University 1963.
Gold has appeared in music documentary films including the 1975 David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
BBC documentary ''Cracked Actor,'' the 2004 Prince BBC documentary ''Prince's Millions,'' the 2016 R.E.M. NRK documentary ''History of the Hit Song'', and the 2020 film ''Music, Money and Madness...Jimi Hendrix in Maui.''
In 2013 Gold hosted a panel discussion and multimedia presentation on the vinyl record revival at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
In 2019, Longreads ran an article about Gold titled ''How Jeff Gold Saved Rare Iggy Pop & The Stooges Recordings From the Dump.''
Gold operates the music memorabilia website Recordmecca where he also blogs about topics of interest to collectors.
Gold is a well known Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
expert. In 2012 he appeared on PBS’ History Detectives (2012, Episode 1), authenticating previously unknown Bob Dylan handwritten manuscripts. His 2014 discovery of 149 previously unknown Bob Dylan acetate records received extensive media attention, including articles in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' and ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''.Ayers, Mike. (2 July 2014) "How 149 Unheard Dylan Acetates Surfaced From a Manhattan Closet" Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 February 2017
/ref> In 2016, Gold and colleague Laura Woolley appraised The Bob Dylan Archive, now housed at the University of Tulsa.
Non-profits
Gold is a major donor to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's library and archives, which houses The Jeff Gold Collection.
Gold formerly served as co-chairman of the youth voter registration organization Rock The Vote
Rock the Vote is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit organization in the United States. Through registering new young voters, the group aims to "channel the energy among young people around racial, economic, and health justice into one of the mo ...
, which presented him (with his wife Jody Uttal) their Founder's Award in 1997.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gold, Jeff
American business executives
American record producers
Living people
1956 births
Grammy Award winners