Sydney Nathan (April 27, 1904 – March 5, 1968) was an American music business executive who founded King Records, a leading
independent record 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 represented ...
, in 1943.
He contributed to the development of
country & western
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...
music,
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed p ...
and
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
and is credited with discovering many prominent musicians, most notably James Brown, whose first single, " Please, Please, Please", was released by Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, in 1956. Nathan was described as "One of the truly eccentric figures of the record industry ... horuled his label like a dictator ... ndconstantly screamed and intimidated his artists and employees". He was posthumously inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes 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 an ...
, in the non-performer category, in 1997.
Biography
Nathan was born to a
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
. He left school in the
ninth grade
Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of high school in the United States, or the last year of middle/junior high school. In some countrie ...
, suffering from poor eyesight and
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, c ...
. He played as a drummer in clubs and in early adulthood worked in a series of jobs in
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
, amusement parks, and pawn and jewelry stores. In the mid-1930s, with his sister and her husband, he opened a radio and phonograph store, before moving to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
to be with his brother and open a
photofinishing
Photographic processing or photographic development is the chemical means by which photographic film or paper is treated after photographic exposure to produce a negative or positive image. Photographic processing transforms the latent image in ...
business.Biography at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Retrieved 26 July 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
He moved back to Cincinnati in the early 1940s and opened a record store, Syd's Record Shop, initially selling used jukebox records.Talevski, Nick (2010) ''Rock Obituaries: Knocking on Heaven's Door'' Omnibus Press. pp. 456–457. In 1943 he started King Records; after it failed initially, he refinanced it with the support of family members. The label was originally intended to produce
hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...
records, but Nathan diversified when he discovered the demands of African-American teenagers for what were then called
race record
Race records were 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.Oliver, Paul. "Race record." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 13 Feb. 2015. They primarily contained race music, comprising various A ...
s. Early records were pressed in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...
, but because of their poor quality Nathan set up his own record-pressing plant in 1944 on the premises at 1540 Brewster Avenue in Cincinnati, the home of King Records for the next 25 years. He also set up a
recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large en ...
at that site and made his own distribution arrangements across the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...
rather than relying on national companies.
He set up the Queen label to record R&B artists in 1945, but it was soon absorbed into the King label. Over the years, King assimilated many other smaller labels, including
DeLuxe
Deluxe may refer to:
Corporations
* Deluxe Corporation, check printers
* De Luxe Motor Car Company, an American automobile manufacturer
Media and entertainment
* DeLuxe Color, a brand of color photography used in motion pictures, especially t ...
, and set up several subsidiaries, such as Federal. The company's talent scouts found many future recording stars. Early signings to the King label or its subsidiaries included Bull Moose Jackson,
Lucky Millinder
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an American swing and rhythm-and-blues bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical ...
,
Tiny Bradshaw
Myron Carlton "Tiny" Bradshaw (September 23, 1907 – November 26, 1958) - accessed July 2010 was an American , Earl Bostic,
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed Cleanhead after an incident in which his hair ...
Dominoes
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...
Bill Doggett
William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American pianist and organist. He began his career playing swing music before transitioning into rhythm and blues. Best known for his instrumental compositions " Honky Tonk" ...
, and
Hank Ballard
Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of The Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an int ...
and the Midnighters, whose song " Work with Me, Annie" was one of the label's biggest successes. Nathan successfully recorded
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
singers. He actively encouraged white performers to record R&B songs and black performers to record country songs, not as an attempt at integration but as a way of maximising his song publishing revenue. Nathan said:
We saw a need. Why should we go into all those towns and only sell to the hillbilly accounts? Why can't we sell a few more while we're there? So we got in the race business.
According to his citation at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes 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 an ...
:
In the process of working with black R&B and white country artists, Nathan helped effect a cross-pollination of the two worlds, thereby helping lay the groundwork for the musical hybrid known as rock and roll.
In 1956, the talent scout Ralph Bass signed James Brown to King, where Brown recorded "Please, Please, Please". Nathan reportedly commented at the time, "That's the worse piece of crap I've heard in my life. It's someone stuttering on a record only saying one word ...". However, the record was a success. Nathan and Brown had a volatile relationship over the years,Biography by Steve Kurutz at Allmusic.com Retrieved 26 July 2013 but Brown later said of Nathan, "I would be telling a lie if I said I would be a world star without the help of men like Mr. Nathan. He was the first one willing to take a chance on me." Brown continued to record for King, despite occasional lawsuits between the two and Nathan's initial refusal to fund Brown's album '' Live at the Apollo'', recorded in 1962, which was one of his most successful and influential, reaching number 2 on the US album chart.
King Records was noted as one of the first
racially integrated
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity ...
companies in the US record business and as "one of the few recording companies to make a record from start to finish, all under one roof."International Bluegrass Music Museum: Syd Nathan Retrieved 26 July 2013. This gave the company a strong competitive edge, as it could record a song and press and distribute the recording within a week. By the 1960s, it had become the sixth largest record company in the US, and was responsible for over 250 hits on the rock, pop, R&B and country charts.Blase, Darren (1999) Cincinnati Entertainment Awards. Retrieved 26 July 2013. However, King's impact declined in the 1960s, after Nathan was implicated in the payola scandal.
In addition to credits received in his own name, Nathan used the pseudonym Lois Mann for song publishing and copyrights in order to obtain a share of the songwriting royalties, a common practice among record company owners. Syd Nathan, Sydney Nathan, and Lois Mann are credited with writing 202 songs, including " Annie Had a Baby", "
I'll Sail My Ship Alone
"I'll Sail My Ship Alone" is a 1950 song written by Moon Mullican (sometimes credited as "Morry Burns"), Henry Bernard (sometimes credited as "Henry Glover"), Lois Mann (sometimes credited as " Sydney Nathan") and Henry Thurston, and popularized b ...
", " Signed Sealed and Delivered", and " Train Kept A-Rollin'".
Nathan had long-standing health issues, and heart problems began to emerge during his fifties. He died of heart disease, complicated by pneumonia, in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
, in 1968 at the age of 63. He was buried at the Judah Touro Cemetery, in Cincinnati.
Legacy
Nathan was posthumously inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes 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 an ...
in 1997 and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2007.
In the James Brown biopic '' Get on Up'', Nathan is portrayed by the actor Fred Melamed.