Nathan Joseph (23 July 1939 – 30 August 2005) was a British record company founder, theatrical producer and

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...

. He was a pioneer in the development of independent record companies in the 1960s and 1970s. Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, Joseph is best known as the founder of

Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...

, an independent British record company that flourished between 1961 and 1977. Joseph started his label by importing American folk and blues recordings that were hard to obtain in the UK in the early 1960s. These were licensed for the UK from American record companies such as

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

. He also released a few offbeat spoken word recordings (including a series of audio sex instruction manuals). By 1963 Joseph had started to sign and record British and Irish artists - primarily in the folk and blues spheres. The label was initially modelled on the Folkways label - and then broadened out in musical scope. Artists signed by Joseph to Transatlantic included

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, musician, television presenter, artist and retired stand-up comedian. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his idiosyncratic and of ...

(who after beginning his career as folk singer with the

Humblebums The Humblebums were a Scottish folk rock band, based in Glasgow. Its members included Billy Connolly, who later became a stand-up comedian and actor; guitarist Tam Harvey; and singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. The band was active from 1965 to 1 ...

released his first comedy recordings for Transatlantic in the early 1970s),

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May; 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (1969), which ...

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle (band), Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and ...

John Renbourn John Renbourn (8 August 1944 – 26 March 2015) was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo care ...

Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed on stage in both plays and musicals in London theatres, and is also known for her roles in films and on television. Her Broadway ...

and

The Dubliners The Dubliners () were an Folk music of Ireland, Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in pers ...

. He also released the first recordings by the

Portsmouth Sinfonia The Portsmouth Sinfonia was an English orchestra founded by a group of students at the Portsmouth School of Art in 1970. The Sinfonia was generally open to anyone and ended up drawing players who were either outsider music, people without musica ...

the avant garde orchestra that included

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

and

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

in its membership. In the late 1970s, Joseph sold Transatlantic Records to the Granada Group and left the music business. He started a second career as a theatrical producer and talent agent, forming the production company, Freeshooter. Productions by Freeshooter included Sir Peter Hall's production of ''The Petition'' starring Sir

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

, ''The March of the Falsettos'' and a revival of ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set t ...

''. As part of his work in the theatre world, he became chair of the Theatre Design Trust in Britain, which worked on theatre restoration projects.

References

* Obituary, ''

Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'', Nov 11 2005, p. 27

External links

Archived obituary
from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 12 September 2005
Archived obituary
from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 13 September 2005
Archived obituary
from ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

'', September, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Nathan 1939 births 2005 deaths People from Birmingham, West Midlands British Jews British record producers English record producers