![]() The creative side was always the interesting side to me.” “So I took a real keen interest in how it was being put together, and I saw the business part, though that part bored me. “The concern about ‘What am I gonna be?’ was an issue with me, and all of a sudden this record company popped up, and everything about it seemed cool,” Waronker recalls. When he was 13, Waronker’s father, Si, a classical violinist and recording contractor, formed Liberty Records, which would become a powerful West Coast label during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Waronker may not exhibit the traits of a born record executive, but he certainly has the grounding. It was clear from that conversation that I was changing roles in my life.” I went to talk to Mo about becoming more involved as an executive, not knowing where it was gonna lead. That’s the most negative thing I can say about him.”īefore becoming president of Warners, Waronker was best known as the producer (mostly with longtime partner Russ Titelman) of numerous acclaimed albums by such individualistic artists as Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Van Dyke Parks, Paul Simon, Maria Muldaur, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot and Rickie Lee Jones.īut in 1982, after 16 years in the recording studio, Waronker found himself staring at the clock on the wall. “Lenny Waronker is an absolutely terrible dresser. “I’ll give you something,” offers Irving Azoff, chairman of MCA Music Entertainment Group. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to find anyone willing to utter a negative comment about the Warner Bros. It’s doubtful that any record executive is more highly regarded by his peers than Waronker. ![]() They’ve proved that size does not belie intimacy and understanding of music.” “They make a lot of money, and they can hold their heads up high. “If they have a game that they play there, it’s about taste-and they have exquisite taste,” observes Virgin Records co-chairman Jeff Ayeroff, a former Warner Bros. According to Waronker, “Mo somehow has been able to depoliticize this place-not that there aren’t politics here, but they exist in a normal, fairly reasonable way.”Įxplains Stephen Baker, the company’s vice president of product management and Waronker’s right-hand man, “Mo set the style for Warner Bros., and Lenny’s been successful working within that style. The hits have kept coming for six straight years, each of them bigger than the last. It wasn’t long before the company was scoring dramatic breakthroughs with all kinds of acts-cult bands like Talking Heads, retreads like ZZ Top and new artists like Madonna. After a traumatic first few months, during which Waronker was forced to jettison a number of acts, among them Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt and T Bone Burnett, Warners began its turnaround under the new president’s artist-oriented leadership. When Waronker took over 6 1/2 years ago, Warner Bros.-along with the rest of the industry-was in a deep slump. In a field run more and more by accountants and attorneys, Waronker is a rarity: a president who came right from the studio. In no small measure, Warners’ impressive performance can be attributed to the dual leadership of chairman Mo Ostin, who created the company’s non-authoritarian structure, and the perspicacious Waronker, who works more closely with artists than any other major-label head in the business. Each is operating his label in the A&R-driven manner pioneered by WB. It’s worth noting that three other red-hot WEA labels-Elektra, Geffen and Virgin-are led by former Warners executives Bob Krasnow, Eddie Rosenblatt and Jeff Ayeroff, respectively. of America figures show nine platinum and multi-platinum albums for Warners through May 16, a figure equal to the company’s entire ’88 performance.Īccording to figures compiled from Billboard magazine by WEA’s parent organization Warner Communications Inc., WEA’s 1989 first-quarter market share was a staggering 56.5%, compared to second-place CBS’ 12.7%. CBS as a whole had but 11.Įarly 1989 has been even better for WEA in general and Warner Bros. ![]() contributed nine of those million-plus sellers. Last year, the WEA labels notched an astounding 29 platinum and multi-platinum albums. and its in-house labels-Reprise and Sire-had their most profitable year ever, pacing the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic (WEA) family of labels, which collectively far outdistanced once-dominant CBS Records, WEA’s closest competitor.
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