Randall Albert "Randy" Wood (October 10, 1929 – October 7, 1980) was an American record company executive. As an executive and later President of

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana, in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...

in the early 1960s, he was involved in the early successes of the Four Seasons, as well as the releases of the first

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

records in the United States. He later launched several independent record labels including

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–300 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a vari ...

and Mirwood.

Life

Wood was born in

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 ...

, and started work in a record store in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

before serving in the US Merchant Marine. After working for the Columbia and Folkways labels, he set up his own record store in New York in 1954. Three years later, he joined

Kapp Records Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...

, working in A&R and promotion as assistant sales manager. Dave Dexter Jr., "L.A. Rites For Vee Jay's Wood", ''Billboard'', 18 October 1980, p.74
Retrieved 14 October 2014 Randy's best friend in 1945 was Pete Seeger. They belonged to "The People's Songs" in 1945, and both were investigated by the McCarthy government. Randy was originally with Folkways records in 1949, then continued on to the below companies. In 1960 he joined

, working as sales manager on the west coast. After his friend

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer and occasional actor, best known as the frontman (lead singer) of The Four Seasons (band), the Four Seasons. He is known for ...

played him a demo of "

Sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...

" by the Four Seasons, he signed the band to Vee-Jay, leading to great success for the group and the record company. Mike Callahan, ''The Vee-Jay Story, Page 3'', 19 December 2008
Retrieved 18 October 2014 The label also bought the US rights to UK

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

releases by Frank Ifield, already an established hit-maker in Britain, and a new group,

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, which allowed Vee-Jay to release two singles, "

Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released in the UK on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963. The album's 14 tracks include cover songs and original ma ...

" and "

From Me to You "From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the UK Singles ...

". However, Wood gave up on the group when the records were initially not hits in the US, and later Beatles songs were issued 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 ...

. Wood became President of Vee-Jay in August 1963. At the time, in 1963 and early 1964, Vee-Jay was in "near chaos", being involved in contractual disputes both over the Four Seasons' contracts and with Capitol over the rights to issue Beatles records. Wood moved the label's head office to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and, after the Beatles started to become successful in early 1964, the label reissued "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You" as a double-sided single, and also released the album '' Jolly What!'', split between Ifield and the Beatles. Early in 1964, Vee-Jay issued the album '' Introducing... The Beatles'', the first Beatles album released in the United States. Alex Bagirov, "The History of the Beatles' Record Releases on Vee Jay Records 1963 – 1987"
Retrieved 18 October 2014 Wood left Vee-Jay in 1965, and founded several small labels in

, including

, Mirwood, Surrey and Crestview. Although the labels had some success, Wood later filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. During the 1970s, he served as a licensing consultant for several record labels in Los Angeles. He died in 1980 after a short illness, aged 50, and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. Randy Wood aka Randall Albert Wood is survived by daughter Michele Wood- Marotta and Karen Elliot (Karen Wood). His oldest daughter, Anita Blanco passed away in 2015 and son Anthony Michael Wood passed away in 2019. His last wife, Rene (aka Ruth Hampton) passed away in 2005. Vee Jay Records is now part of the Concord Music family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood (music executive), Randy 1929 births 1980 deaths American music industry executives 20th-century American businesspeople