BANG RECORDS

'Bang Records' was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegün, Nesuhi Ertegün and Jerry Wexler (Gerald). The first letters of their names formed the label's name: BANG.

Contents

Forming the company

Death of Berns

Development of the label

Bang Records artists

See also

Forming the company

Berns had been staff producer at Atlantic Records for several years when the Atlantic chief executives and Berns set out to create a new independent label. Soon thereafter, Berns took sole control of the company. At Bang, Berns had an immediate string of hit records, including "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves, "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys, "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison, and "Solitary Man" by Neil Diamond.

Death of Berns

When Berns died suddenly on December 30, 1967 as a result of a rheumatic heart condition, his wife Ilene Berns took over management. She believed that arguments with Van Morrison had been the cause of her husband's death, and made things difficult for the Irish artist until Warner Brothers managed to untangle him from the Bang contract, though with some awkward conditions, such as giving Bang three original recordings a month for a year.

Berns' young widow signed singer/songwriter Paul Davis, who had a number of hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, including songs such as "Ride 'Em Cowboy," "I Go Crazy," "Sweet Life," "Cool Night" and "65 Love Affair." Ilene Berns also signed and developed R&B acts Brick ("Dazz") and Peabo Bryson.

Development of the label

In the early years, Bang did its own distribution. In 1978 Bang signed a distribution deal with CBS Records, until the company was purchased in the early eighties by Columbia Records, at the time a division of CBS. Over the years two subsidiary labels were started: Shout Records and Bullet Records.

Bang Records artists

★ Paul Davis

★ Neil Diamond

★ The McCoys

★ Van Morrison

★ Nigel Olsson

★ The Strangeloves

See also

★ List of record labels