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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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<ref>Jewish Journal: "Here's to you, Paul Simon: Skirball showcases his 'Words & Music'} by Ryan Torok April 26, 2017</ref> 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.<ref>Darryl Lyman, Great Jews in Music, Jonathan David Publishers, 1986.</ref> 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".<ref name="ReferenceA">Dannen, Fredric, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside The Music Business, Vintage Books, 1991 (Template:ISBN), p. 58</ref> 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.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

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.<ref name=obit/> 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, Dimitri 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<ref>Dannen, Fredric, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside The Music Business, Vintage Books, 1991 (Template:ISBN), p. 62</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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,<ref>'After your honeymoon' – Bernadette Peters & friends (YouTube)</ref> Tony Randall, Jason Robards,<ref>'Bobbing Up and Down' – Bernadette Peters and Jason Robards (YouTube)</ref> Jean Stapleton<ref>"Husbands and Wives" songs from They Said it with Music, YouTube</ref> and Flip Wilson,<ref>My Name is Morgan...Flip Wilson (YouTube)</ref><ref>Flip Wilson: 'If That's Your Idea of a Wonderful Time...Take Me Home!' (YouTube)</ref> with appearances by Thurl Ravenscroft and Jimmy Griffin, a founding member of the soft-rock band Bread.<ref>They Said it with Music (featuring James Griffin), YouTube</ref> The show aired July 4,<ref>Vincent Terrace, Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936–2012 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2013), p. 361.</ref> thirty-seven days after Lieberson died of cancer in New York City on May 29, 1977, aged 66.<ref name=obit>Template:Cite news</ref>