Record Label

For a musician, there are probably more flattering movie roles to be offered than that of a guy who single-handedly ruins a record label with his dismal sales. Fortunately for British rocker Graham Parker, who plays such a character in the new Judd Apatow comedy "This Is 40," his decades in the music business have left him with a thick skin and a good sense of humor. In this clip from the Envelope Screening Series with The Times' Rebecca Keegan, Parker talks about his real-life reunion with his band the Rumour after 31 years and how they got involved in Apatow's film.

NEW YORK - The songs are among the most popular of the baby boom era - "My Girl," "I Want You Back," "Dancing in the Streets. " They may be the staple of oldies radio; they haven't been part of a big Broadway musical. Now "Motown: The Musical" is about to become this season's big bet on the drawing power of the jukebox. The show will tell the real story that "Dreamgirls" was merely based on: the life of producer Berry Gordy, a onetime boxer who founded the Motown record label and signed some of the decade's biggest R&B stars, including the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Andy Williams' signature hit song from the early 1960s was no accident of timing. Audrey Hepburn sang it first in the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and it was nominated for an Oscar. But when the producers of the Academy Awards show asked Williams to perform "Moon River" on the 1962 broadcast, his record label hatched a plan. With four weeks till air time, Williams recorded an album featuring "Moon River" and other "great movie themes. " It was rushed into stores on Oscar day and by the next morning was on its way to being a hit. Williams, 84, whose soothing baritone and laid-back style made him one of America's top vocalists from the 1950s into the 1970s, died Tuesday at his home in Branson, Mo., his family said.

Deke Richards, 68, who as part of the songwriting and producing team known as the Corporation was responsible for many of the Jackson 5's early hit songs for Motown Records, died Sunday at a hospice in Bellingham, Wash., of esophageal cancer, according to a statement from the Universal Music record label. Richards and the other members of the Corporation -- Alphonso Mizell, Freddie Perren and Motown founder Berry Gordy -- created and shaped the Jacksons' first three No. 1 hits: "I Want You Back," "ABC" and "The Love You Save.

So long, L.A. Reid. The music mogul announced Thursday that he won't be back for Season 3 of Fox's "The X Factor" and will instead devote his full energies to the music label he runs for Sony. The TV singing contest was created by Simon Cowell, who also serves as a judge. "Of course, I will miss the show," Reid told the Hollywood Reporter. "In my opinion Simon attracts the best talent but I'm looking forward to getting back to my core business and the responsibility of running Epic Records.

The Smashing Pumpkins are suing Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in pro- motional deals that hurt the band's credibility with fans. In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court on Monday, the rockers said they have "worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public" and that Virgin's use of the band in a "Pepsi Stuff" promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for "artistic integrity."

Hector Gonzalez straps a five-string bass guitar over his belly inside a music studio on a dreary stretch of Monterey Park. He plays as a smooth, prerecorded tenor joins a funky accordion through his headphones. Trying to bite a bullet, or sometimes count to 10, For the sake of argument , let's just pretend, We both agree to disagree. Gonzalez is helping a silky-voiced old bandmate record a nostalgic-sounding soul album. But in a larger sense, the 59-year-old music producer is trying to keep alive a legacy he inherited 18 years ago. Gonzalez is the head of Rampart Records, which earned a measure of fame in the 1960s as the originator of the "West Coast Eastside Sound" - and whose founder dreamed of its becoming a Mexican American Motown.

You want a CD with that latte? On Monday, Starbucks and Concord Music Group announced the formation of a joint record label, Hear Music. The label plans to sign artists and release original music via music stores and the Internet in addition to Hear Music's existing platform, Starbucks coffeehouses, by the end of the year.

CBS Corp. named music industry veteran Larry Jenkins to lead the company's return to the record business after an almost 20-year absence. Jenkins, 46, was appointed executive vice president and general manager of CBS Records, the New York-based company said. He will be based at the music division's West Los Angeles headquarters. Jenkins was head of marketing at Columbia Records.

Fonovisa, the Van Nuys-based record label embroiled in a payola scandal, is on the sales block, sources said. Fonovisa President Guillermo Santiso, who is expected to plead guilty soon to a payola-related felony tax count, gave a sales presentation last month in Mexico to potential buyers, sources say, that included representatives from such global music conglomerates as Seagram's Universal Music Group, Sony Music and EMI Group.

Ohio-born indie rock singer and songwriter Jason Molina of the bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. died Saturday at age 39 after a long battle with alcoholism, his record label announced. “Jason is the cornerstone of Secretly Canadian,” read a statement issued Monday by the Bloomington, Ind.,-based label. “Without him there would be no us -- plain and simple. His singular, stirring body of work is the foundation upon which all else has been constructed. After hearing and falling in love with the mysterious voice on his debut single "Soul" in early 1996, we approached him about releasing a single on our newly formed label.

This post has been updated. See below for details. Among the dozens of musical luminaries referenced in record man Clive Davis' new autobiography, "The Soundtrack of My Life," are a number of wild cards and surprises. Yes, Davis devotes pages to his close affiliations with Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Sly Stone, Patti Smith, Aretha Franklin, Santana, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. But fans of rock history will be equally transfixed by some of the little details.  Davis' success over 50 years as an executive with the Columbia, Arista, BMG, J Records and Sony record labels has made him the face of the recording establishment.

Hector Gonzalez straps a five-string bass guitar over his belly inside a music studio on a dreary stretch of Monterey Park. He plays as a smooth, prerecorded tenor joins a funky accordion through his headphones. Trying to bite a bullet, or sometimes count to 10, For the sake of argument , let's just pretend, We both agree to disagree. Gonzalez is helping a silky-voiced old bandmate record a nostalgic-sounding soul album. But in a larger sense, the 59-year-old music producer is trying to keep alive a legacy he inherited 18 years ago. Gonzalez is the head of Rampart Records, which earned a measure of fame in the 1960s as the originator of the "West Coast Eastside Sound" - and whose founder dreamed of its becoming a Mexican American Motown.

For a musician, there are probably more flattering movie roles to be offered than that of a guy who single-handedly ruins a record label with his dismal sales. Fortunately for British rocker Graham Parker, who plays such a character in the new Judd Apatow comedy "This Is 40," his decades in the music business have left him with a thick skin and a good sense of humor. In this clip from the Envelope Screening Series with The Times' Rebecca Keegan, Parker talks about his real-life reunion with his band the Rumour after 31 years and how they got involved in Apatow's film.

So long, L.A. Reid. The music mogul announced Thursday that he won't be back for Season 3 of Fox's "The X Factor" and will instead devote his full energies to the music label he runs for Sony. The TV singing contest was created by Simon Cowell, who also serves as a judge. "Of course, I will miss the show," Reid told the Hollywood Reporter. "In my opinion Simon attracts the best talent but I'm looking forward to getting back to my core business and the responsibility of running Epic Records.

A&M Records spent much of the 1960s, '70s and '80s as one of the leading independent labels in the music business, buoyed by a remarkably consistent string of hits from superstar acts, beginning with label co-founder Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and continuing through the Carpenters, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, the Police, Sting, the Go-Go's, Janet Jackson, Bryan Adams and many others. The one thing they had in common: Most weren't superstars when they came to A&M. "We don't sign big names," Gil Friesen, the longtime president of the label founded in 1962 by Alpert and business partner Jerry Moss, told Forbes in 1988.

The National Assn. of Broadcasters, seeking to prevent legislation requiring payment of new music royalties by radio stations, asked Congress to investigate the relationship between artists and labels. Association President David Rehr said in a letter to Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village) that any effort "to improve the circumstances of performers" should also look into the ties between artists and record companies. He wasn't more specific.

Sam Gennawey loves to talk about music, whether it's an intriguing new band he has discovered, a favorite out-of-the-way record store or the state of commercial radio. Perhaps Gennawey's passion just seems unusual because he is the president of a record label--Primitive Man Recording Co. (PMRC), the new alternative music offshoot of Miles Copeland's IRS Records.

Marc Rose and Med Abrous, owners of Hollywood's the Spare Room bar, like to support L.A. artists and high-minded causes. The Echo Park band Spirit Vine enjoys getting outside its Eastside comfort zone once in a while. And Paul Beahan, owner of the L.A. indie record label Manimal, just loves "freakin' people out. " Fine, you say. But what's any of this got to do with bowling, male facial hair or testicular cancer prevention? Glad you asked. This month, those mix-and-match imperatives are rubbing shoulders in the "Manimal for Movember" live-music benefit at the Spare Room, the neo-Gilded Age gaming parlor and cocktail lounge that threw open its doors in January 2011 on the mezzanine level of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Deep within the high-security Iron Mountain storage facility in Hollywood, where nearly every doorway except for the restroom is protected by a security-card swipe lock, sits the Grammy Museum's permanent collection of pop music artifacts, recordings and memorabilia. Hundreds of 10-inch 78 rpm discs - some from Thomas Edison's record label - reside in archival boxes on 20-foot-long metal shelves, near antique radios and phonograph players, musical instruments, posters and some celebrity fashion items stored out of sight in sturdy garment bags.