Phil Walden, whose Macon, Ga.-based Capricorn Records launched the Allman Brothers Band and became known as "the citadel of Southern rock" in the 1970s, has died. He was 66.
Walden died at his home in Atlanta on Sunday after a long battle with cancer, said his daughter, Amantha Walden.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday April 27, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 39 words Type of Material: Correction
Walden obituary: The obituary for Capricorn Records founder Phil Walden in Tuesday's California section said President Carter appeared at the annual Capricorn Barbecue and Summer Games hosted by Walden in 1976. Carter was still a candidate at the time.
In a career that began when he started managing Otis Redding and booking shows for other R&B artists in the late '50s, Walden launched Capricorn Records in 1969.
Capricorn earned a reputation as the South's most successful independent record label in the 1970s, with acts such as the Allman Brothers Band and the Marshall Tucker Band.
The label's roster included such artists as Wet Willie, Elvin Bishop and the Dixie Dregs.
"Phil was there at the beginning, and we could not have accomplished what we have without him," Gregg Allman and the other members of the Allman Brothers Band said in a statement Monday.
Walden's life and career, however, were a roller coaster, and his music empire collapsed in the late '70s.
He overcame problems with cocaine and alcohol in the '80s and reentered the record business with a revived Capricorn Records in the early '90s.
"He was a brilliantly talented, instinctive music man who lived a wild life," Joe Smith, former president of Warner Bros. Records, which had a distribution deal with Walden's label in the 1970s, told The Times on Monday.
"He had a great ear" for music, Smith said. "Phil was a tremendously colorful guy, slightly wacko ... and in Macon, Ga.,\o7 he\f7 was a king."
In Macon, Walden was known for hosting the annual Capricorn Barbecue and Summer Games, held at a lakeside amusement park he owned.
The free, invitation-only extravaganza featured live entertainment by Capricorn acts and touring bands. President Carter made a brief appearance at the 1976 event.
Walden had been an early supporter of Carter, then the governor of Georgia, during Carter's presidential run, producing a series of benefit concerts during a crucial period in the campaign.
Born in Greenville, S.C., on Jan. 11, 1940, Walden grew up in Macon, where he became an early fan of the R&B music of Joe Turner, the Midnighters and the Clovers.
Walden was a student at Mercer University in Macon in 1959 when he began operating an artists management company.
Phil Walden Artists and Promotions was headquartered in a downtown Macon professional building: a $33-a-month, 9-by-12-foot office furnished with Army surplus desks, a telephone and a portable typewriter.
