Marshall Estus Sehorn (June 25, 1934 – December 5, 2006) was an American A&R man, songwriter, music publisher and entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of R&B and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

between the 1950s and 1970s, particularly as the business partner of

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descr ...

Early years

He was born in Concord,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, and played guitar in local bands while attending

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

Career

After graduating, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1958, and joined the A&R staff at Bobby Robinson's Fury and

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

s as their Southern promotions executive.Red Kelly, ''Marshall Sehorn''
CharlieGillett.com. Retrieved 8 July 2013 He soon discovered singer

Wilbert Harrison Wilbert Huntington Harrison (January 5, 1929 – October 26, 1994) was an American rhythm and blues singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player. Biography Harrison was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had a Hot 100 number-one hits o ...

, whose recording of the

Leiber and Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...

song "

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

" topped the US pop and

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

s in 1959. The following year he secured another

chart-topper A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...

for the Fire label, when he signed flamboyant New Orleans singer Bobby Marchan, who had a hit with " There's Something on Your Mind". He also discovered

Lee Dorsey Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were " Ya Ya" (1961) and " Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, wit ...

, pairing him with young songwriter and pianist Allen Toussaint, and helped secure hits for

Gladys Knight & the Pips Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American Rhythm and blues, R&B, soul music, soul, and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for over three decades starting from the early ...

and

Buster Brown Buster Brown is a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault that was adopted as the mascot of the Brown Shoe Company in 1904. The characters of Buster Brown, Mary Jane, and his dog Tige became well known to the American publ ...

.Biography by Jason Ankeny

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Retrieved 8 July 2013 He ran sessions for the Fire and Fury labels in New Orleans, until the labels collapsed in 1963. He was credited as co-writer on many recordings including " One Way Out", which is usually credited to Sehorn and

Elmore James Elmore James ( Brooks; January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice, James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ...

. Sehorn remained in New Orleans after the labels folded, and set up his own

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectua ...

company, Rhinelander Music. He persuaded Toussaint to write new material for Lee Dorsey, which included "Ride Your Pony" and "

Working in the Coal Mine "Working in the Coal Mine" is a song with music and lyrics by the American musician and record producer Allen Toussaint. It was an international hit for Lee Dorsey in 1966, and has been recorded by other musicians including Devo in 1981. Lee D ...

", both of which became international hits. With Toussaint, he founded the Sansu record label, and signed singer Betty Harris. Harris' records for the label, including "Nearer To You", were among the first to feature the label's house band, who became

The Meters The Meters (later The Funky Meters) are an American funk band formed in 1965 in New Orleans by Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). The band performed and recorded their o ...

. By the late 1960s, Sehorn and Toussaint had become "the most influential music-makers in New Orleans", and built the Sea-Saint Recording Studio in Gentilly. There they recorded such musicians as Dr. John,

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 ...

, and

Labelle Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around ...

, whose "

Lady Marmalade "Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan that is famous for the French refrain of "''Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir''?", which is a sexual proposition that translates into English as: "''Do you want to sleep with m ...

" was the studio's biggest hit. The studio also attracted

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, whose 1975

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

album '' Venus and Mars'' was largely recorded there.

Legal history

Marshal Sehorn decided in the 1970s to get out of the actual producing and recording of music, and he entered into the licensing end of the business. He started multiple companies, including Blue Dog Express, Red Dog Express and White Dog Records by which he exploited the rights to music, some of which he did not own. He attempted to acquire certain rights to the

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

catalogue but

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc. established in 1972, though MCA had released recordings under that name in the UK from the 1960s. The label achieved success in the 1970s through the 1980s, often by acquiring other ...

exercised a superior claim to the titles in the

catalogue, and sued him for infringement in California. "In an action brought by MCA, the Los Angeles Superior Court determined that Red Dog and its owner, Marshall Sehorn, never in fact had any rights to the Chess Masters." MCA Records pursued another infringer Charly Holdings, Inc. Sehorn lost, and when he could not pay the judgment, he and his companies declared bankruptcy. The bankruptcy estate started a company called Gulf Coast Music to hold the titles to music in Sehorn's Express company catalogs. Gulf Coast Music then turned over titles of songs to artists like Betty Harris who had been denied royalties for decades by Sehorn. In bankruptcy, drummer Joseph Modeliste of

sought to file a claim for assets of Sehorn's estate, but the

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: ...

affirmed that Modeliste filed his claims with the bankruptcy court too late. Sehorn had been sued before over unpaid royalties by artists like

the Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McF ...

and B.J. Thomas.

Death

Sehorn died in New Orleans of a

respiratory disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, ...

in 2006, at the age of 72.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sehorn, Marshall 1934 births 2006 deaths People from Concord, North Carolina Songwriters from North Carolina Record producers from North Carolina American music publishers (people) 20th-century American male musicians Respiratory disease deaths in Louisiana 20th-century American songwriters