Goddard Lieberson
Goddard Lieberson (April 5, 1911 – May 29, 1977) was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and again from 1973 to 1975.[1] He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964.[2] He was also a composer, and studied with George Frederick McKay, at the University of Washington, Seattle. He married Vera Zorina in 1946 and with her had 2 children.
Biography
Lieberson was born to a Jewish family[3] on April 5, 1911, in Hanley in Staffordshire; his father was a manufacturer of rubber shoe heels who took his family to the United States when Lieberson was a child.[4] He studied classical piano and composition at the Eastman School of Music in the 1930s and after graduating he wrote classical concert reviews under the pseudonym "Johann Sebastian".[5] He was married to actress/dancer Vera Zorina from 1946 until his death in 1977. They had two sons: Peter Lieberson, a composer, and Jonathan Lieberson. Lieberson was noted for his personal elegance, taste and style, and was renowned as a wit, bon vivant and international traveller, whose circle of friends and acquaintances included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Rodgers, W. Somerset Maugham, Noël Coward and John Gielgud.[5]
Lieberson began working for the CBS group of labels in 1938 – the same year the company was acquired by the CBS broadcasting empire – and he began his career at Columbia as an A&R Manager. Before becoming president of the company, Lieberson was responsible for Columbia's introduction of the long-playing record.[6] The LP was particularly well-suited to Columbia's long-established classical repertoire, as recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodziński, Dmitri Mitropoulos, and Leonard Bernstein. Lieberson was also a lifelong friend of musician, recording artist, TV personality and Columbia A&R manager/producer Mitch Miller, having met Miller when the two were studying music at the Eastman School of Music in the 1930s[7]
He was promoted to president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971 and again from 1973 to 1975. In 1966, in a reorganization, Columbia Records became subsidiary to the newly formed CBS/Columbia Group.[8] In 1967, Lieberson promoted Clive Davis to president of Columbia Records.
In 1977, Lieberson co-wrote and produced the CBS-TV special They Said it with Music: From Yankee Doodle to Ragtime, a salute to American songwriters throughout the ages, starring Bernadette Peters,[9] Tony Randall, Jason Robards,[10] Jean Stapleton[11] and Flip Wilson,[12][13] with appearances by Thurl Ravenscroft and Jimmy Griffin, a founding member of the soft-rock band Bread.[14] The show aired July 4,[15] thirty-seven days after Lieberson died of cancer in New York City on May 29, 1977, aged 66.[6]
Positions
Preceded by | President of Columbia Records/CBS Records 1956 to 1971 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | President of RIAA 1964 to 1977 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | President of CBS Records 1973 to 1975 | Succeeded by |
References
- ^ "Lieberson, Back at C.B.S. Post Talks About Rock and Records. Lieberson Challenges Image". The New York Times. May 31, 1973. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
- ^ "Goddard Lieberson Named Head of Record Association". The New York Times. January 22, 1964. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Goddard Lieberson, head of Columbia Records, was elected president of the Record Industry Association of America yesterday. ...
- ^ Jewish Journal: "Here's to you, Paul Simon: Skirball showcases his 'Words & Music'} by Ryan Torok April 26, 2017
- ^ Darryl Lyman, Great Jews in Music, Jonathan David Publishers, 1986.
- ^ a b Dannen, Frederic, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside The Music Business, Vintage Books, 1991 (ISBN 0099813106), p. 58
- ^ a b "Goddard Lieberson, Who Fostered LP's at Columbia Records, Dies; Goddard Lieberson, Who Fostered LP's at Columbia Records, Dead". The New York Times. May 30, 1977. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records for 19 years, who introduced long-playing records to the American public, died of cancer early yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 66 years old.
- ^ Dannen, Frederic, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside The Music Business, Vintage Books, 1991 (ISBN 0099813106), p. 62
- ^ "Lieberson Heads New C.B.S. Group. Put in Charge of Activities Outside Broadcasting". The New York Times. June 10, 1966. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
Goddard Lieberson, one of the more prominent figures in the phonograph recording industry, has been named president of the C.B.S./Columbia Group, a new unit of the Columbia Broadcasting System for expanded activities in education and music. The unit is part of the company's long range plans to achieve greater diversification outside the field of broadcasting.
- ^ 'After your honeymoon' - Bernadette Peters & friends (YouTube)
- ^ 'Bobbing Up and Down' - Bernadette Peters and Jason Robards (YouTube)
- ^ "Husbands and Wives" songs from They Said it with Music, YouTube
- ^ My Name is Morgan...Flip Wilson (YouTube)
- ^ Flip Wilson: 'If That's Your Idea of a Wonderful Time...Take Me Home!' (YouTube)
- ^ They Said it with Music (featuring James Griffin), YouTube
- ^ Vincent Terrace, Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2013), p. 361.
- v
- t
- e
- The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows – Stan Freberg (1958)
- Lincoln Portrait – Carl Sandburg (1959)
- FDR Speaks – Robert Bialek (producer) (1960)
- Humor in Music – Leonard Bernstein (1961)
- The Story-Teller: A Session with Charles Laughton – Charles Laughton (1962)
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Edward Albee (playwright) (1963)
- BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy – That Was the Week That Was (1964)
- John F. Kennedy: As We Remember Him – Goddard Lieberson (producer) (1965)
- Edward R. Murrow - A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I: The War Years – Edward R. Murrow (1966)
- Gallant Men – Everett Dirksen (1967)
- Lonesome Cities – Rod McKuen (1968)
- We Love You Call Collect – Art Linkletter & Diane Linkletter (1969)
- Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam – Martin Luther King Jr. (1970)
- Desiderata – Les Crane (1971)
- Lenny – Bruce Botnick (producer) & the Original Broadway Cast (1972)
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull – Richard Harris (1973)
- Good Evening – Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (1974)
- Give 'em Hell, Harry! – James Whitmore (1975)
- Great American Documents – Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones, and Orson Welles (1976)
- The Belle of Amherst – Julie Harris (1977)
- Citizen Kane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) – Orson Welles (1978)
- Ages of Man: Readings from Shakespeare – John Gielgud (1979)
- Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein – Pat Carroll (1980)
- Donovan's Brain – Orson Welles (1981)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record – Tom Voegeli (producer) and Various Artists (1982)
- Lincoln Portrait – William Warfield (1983)
- The Words of Gandhi – Ben Kingsley (1984)
- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom – Mike Berniker (producer) & the Original Broadway Cast (1985)
- Interviews from the Class of '55 Recording Sessions – Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chips Moman, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Sam Phillips (1986)
- Lake Wobegon Days – Garrison Keillor (1987)
- Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson – Jesse Jackson (1988)
- It's Always Something – Gilda Radner (1989)
- Gracie: A Love Story – George Burns (1990)
- The Civil War – Ken Burns (1991)
- What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS – Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Robert O'Keefe (1992)
- On the Pulse of Morning – Maya Angelou (1993)
- Get in the Van – Henry Rollins (1994)
- Phenomenal Woman – Maya Angelou (1995)
- It Takes a Village – Hillary Clinton (1996)
- Charles Kuralt's Spring – Charles Kuralt (1997)
- Still Me – Christopher Reeve (1998)
- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. – LeVar Burton (1999)
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography – Sidney Poitier, Rick Harris, and John Runnette (producers) (2000)
- Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones – Quincy Jones, Jeffrey S. Thomas, Steven Strassman (engineers), and Elisa Shokoff (producer) (2001)
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven – Maya Angelou and Charles B. Potter (producer) (2002)
- Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – Al Franken and Paul Ruben (producer) (2003)
- My Life – Bill Clinton (2004)
- Dreams from My Father – Barack Obama (2005)
- Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis – Jimmy Carter / With Ossie and Ruby – Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (2006)
- The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama and Jacob Bronstein (producer) (2007)
- An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore – Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon, and Blair Underwood (2008)
- Always Looking Up – Michael J. Fox (2009)
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Audiobook) – Jon Stewart (2010)
- If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't) – Betty White (2011)
- Society's Child – Janis Ian (2012)
- America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't – Stephen Colbert (2013)
- Diary of a Mad Diva – Joan Rivers (2014)
- A Full Life: Reflections at 90 – Jimmy Carter (2015)
- In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox – Carol Burnett (2016)
- The Princess Diarist – Carrie Fisher (2017)
- Faith: A Journey for All – Jimmy Carter (2018)
- Becoming – Michelle Obama (2019)
- Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth – Rachel Maddow (2020)
- Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation from John Lewis − Don Cheadle (2021)
- Finding Me – Viola Davis (2022)
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times – Michelle Obama (2023)