Died On This Date (July 9, 2013) Jim Foglesong / Legendary Record Label Executive
themusicsover Jim Foglesong
July 26, 1922 – July 9, 2013
Jim Foglesong was a longtime record company executive who, for the better part of 50 years, helped countless country music performers become household names. A singer himself, Foglesong began singing in church before he turned four years old, and by the time he was in high school, he was singing on local radio stations throughout Charleston, West Virginia. During WWII, Foglesong performed at USO shows while serving in the Army. After his service ended, he enrolled in college where he studied music. After graduating and moving to New York City, he found himself working as a session singer on recordings by the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Connie Francis, Neil Sedaka, and Dion & the Belmonts. During the early ’50s, Foglesong worked at Columbia Records where he helped start Epic Records. While there, he began producing records. He eventually moved to RCA where he produced records by the likes of Robert Goulet and Doris Day. By the late ’70s, he was working in Nashville where the list of artists he went on to work with reads like an encyclopedia of country music. During that time he also found himself running labels like Dot and MCA Records. In 1984, he was named president of Capitol Records’ Nashville division where he signed Garth Brooks. Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Reba McEntire, and George Strait are just a few of the country stars whose recording careers he helped guide. After retiring from the record business in the early ’90s, Foglesong went into education. He served as the music business department head at Trevecca Nazarene College and taught a music business class at Vanderbilt University, both in Nashville. In 2004, he was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Jim Foglesong was 90 when he passed away on July 9, 2013.
Besides having a long and ultra-successful career as a television host and media mogul, Merv Griffin was also a very talented musician and songwriter. Griffin began his music career as a singer at the age of 19 when he appeared on a nationally syndicated radio program which lead to a gig singing in front of a traveling orchestra for the next four years. Shortly thereafter, Griffin recorded his first album, Songs By Merv Griffin, which would go down in history as the first American album ever recorded on magnetic tape. At 25, Griffin’s “I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts” became a chart topper, eventually selling some three million copies. By now Griffin was a popular fixture on the nightclub circuit, where he was discovered by Doris Day who opened some Hollywood doors which eventually lead to his lucrative film and television career. Griffin’s most popular song was a lullaby written for his son entitled “A Time For Tony.” The tune was renamed “Think!” and found a home as the countdown music for the Final Jeopardy rounds. Griffin has said that that simple melody has earned him in excess of $70 million dollars in royalties. Merv Griffin passed away as a result of prostate cancer on August 12, 2007. He was 82.
Percy Faith was a Canadian composer and band leader who has been called “The Father of Easy Listening.” His compositions, many for film soundtracks, were very popular during the ’50s and ’60s, with many becoming standards in later years. Faith also worked as an arranger for the likes of Tony Bennett and Doris Day. Over the course of his career, Faith released over 80 albums. His popular recordings during that time included “Song From The Moulin Rouge,” and the 1961 Grammy-winning “Theme From A Summer Place.” Percy Faith was 76 when died of cancer on February 9, 1976.
