Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry (58 page)

on Davis at Columbia

on Landau as Springsteen’s manager

power and excess

retirement

Young, Lester

Young, Neil

Young Rascals

ZE Records

Zimmerman, David

Zomba Group

Zonophone

Phonograph inventor Thomas Edison, 1895. He gave us the technology, but without musical ears, his world-famous brand would never make an impact. (Library of Congress)

Gramophone inventor Emile Berliner. Musician and idealist, his brief but decisive influence on the fledgling industry would inspire the twentieth century. (Library of Congress)

The first record mogul, Victor Talking Machine founder Eldridge R. Johnson. He effectively inherited Berliner’s patents and built the biggest label in the world. (Library of Congress)

Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, the first international superstar of the record age. Beside him, the machine that transformed the industry, the Victrola. (Library of Congress)

The birth of the modern record man, Ralph Peer. From Okeh field recorder to country mogul, in 1920 he recorded Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues,” then in 1928 recorded the equally seminal Bristol Sessions featuring Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. (Courtesy of peermusic)

Harry Pace, founder of Ethel Waters’s mythical label, Black Swan. Despite its claims as the first authentic African-American record company, Pace may have been Italian. (Courtesy of Peter Pace)

John Lomax, musicologist and field recorder who in 1933 discovered Lead Belly in a state penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. (Library of Congress)

“It was twenty years ago today.” Beatles producer George Martin, sublieutenant observer in the British Fleet Air Arm, 1947. He had just taught himself music theory and in 1950 would join Parlophone, an EMI label on Abbey Road. (Courtesy of George Martin)

CBS founder William Paley. He bought out Columbia in 1938 and remained its corporate chairman until 1983. (Library of Congress)

Goddard Lieberson, the witty musicianpresident of Columbia in its golden age. (Sony Music Archive)

John Hammond, the A&R legend who discovered Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Bruce Springsteen. (Courtesy of Rosita Sarnoff)

Sun Records founder Sam Phillips at Graceland, 1981. He signed Howlin’ Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis. (Courtesy of Tom Zito)