Frank Fenter
Encyclopedia
Frank Fenter was a music industry executive.
Fenter was the first Managing Director of Atlantic Records
for Europe, where he helped discover and sign to Atlantic late-1960s British Invasion
groups including Led Zeppelin
and the progressive rock
bands Yes
and King Crimson
. Frank Fenter was also instrumental in introducing and breaking Rhythm and Blues
music across Europe including artists as Otis Redding
and Sam and Dave. He went on in the 1970s to be co-founder and partner in Capricorn Records
, the label identified with Southern Rock
, led by The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band
, Wet Willie and Elvin Bishop
.
, South Africa
, and moved to London, England, in 1958, at the age of 22, initially determined to become an actor. Fenter's acting career included a feature role in the BBC's 1963 The Big Pull
; in 1964, he produced, co-wrote and acted in Africa Shakes, the first South African rock movie, which featured Fenter's music act Bill Kimber and the Couriers. The movie was the first to have an interracial
cast in Apartheid South Africa.
While doing part-time acting, Fenter began to book bands around London
in the early 1960s, including The Rolling Stones
, The Animals
and Manfred Mann
, long before they had recording contracts. Fenter got his first big break in the music industry in 1964, when he joined Chapell Music Publishing Co.; he went on to head Liberty-Imperial Record Publishing and later ARC/Chess Music.
partner Nesuhi Ertegun
to head the label in the United Kingdom. Within six months, Frank Fenter was the Managing Director in charge of Atlantic Records' operations in all of Europe. Fenter was responsible for making Atlantic Records the most important American label in promoting British music, according to the late Ahmet Ertegun
, co-founder and Chairman of Atlantic Records. Working with his good friend Giorgio Gomelsky
, the former manager of the Yardbirds and the first manager of the Rolling Stones, Fenter played a vital role in having brought Led Zeppelin
to Atlantic Records and helped discover and sign such British progressive-rock groups as Yes
and King Crimson
.
According to Ahmet Ertegun, Frank Fenter was instrumental in breaking Rhythm and Blues
music throughout Europe, having brought the "Hit the Road Stax" tour there in the spring of 1967; which included the acts Otis Redding
, Sam and Dave and Booker T and the MGs. At the start of the European tour, Fenter had Tom Dowd
record the live concerts and with Fenter's direction, Stax Records
, a label affiliated with Atlantic Records, experienced a sales jump, with seven of the eleven albums recorded live on the European tour received gold certifications.
and Alan Walden
, former co-managers of Otis Redding
, Sam and Dave, and other Stax artists, formed Capricorn Records
with a distribution deal from Atlantic Records
. Working with Phil Walden and Jerry Wexler
, Frank Fenter negotiated the Capricorn deal with his mentor, Ahmet Ertegun
Frank Fenter and Phil Walden envisioned a new kind of record company structure that would be vertically integrated. Capricorn Records
would have loosely held subsidiary companies that encompassed all facets of the music business, including artist management, with Phil Walden and Associates; a booking agency, the Paragon Agency; a music publishing house, No Exit Music; and artist merchandising, with the Great Southern Company.
Frank Fenter took the helm of Capricorn Records
while Phil Walden focused on artist management and together they helped popularize the genre of Southern Rock
. At the height of Capricorn Record's success, Fortune magazine, the business periodical, went on to recognize Fenter as a "Promotional Genius". Singly or together, the two partners discovered and signed such recording artists as The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band
, Elvin Bishop
, Wet Willie, Sea Level
, The Dixie Dregs, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Thorpe
, Stillwater
and Alex Taylor
. In 1975, Fenter negotiated with the South African apartheid government to have Capricorn Records
recording artist Dobie Gray
be the first artist to perform in front of a multi-racial audience in his native home of Johannesburg
, South Africa
.
Capricorn Records
declared bankruptcy
in late 1979, but, in 1983, Frank Fenter and Phil Walden restructured Capricorn Records
and were ready to forge a comeback, however, in the middle of negotiating a distribution deal with Mo Ostin
, the Chairman of Warner Bros. Records
, Fenter died of a heart attack in the Capricorn office; with his death, the deal with Warner Bros.
fell apart.
Frank Fenter died in Macon, Georgia
, from a heart attack at the age of 47.
Fenter was the first Managing Director of Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
for Europe, where he helped discover and sign to Atlantic late-1960s British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
groups including Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
bands Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
. Frank Fenter was also instrumental in introducing and breaking Rhythm and Blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
music across Europe including artists as Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
and Sam and Dave. He went on in the 1970s to be co-founder and partner in Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
, the label identified with Southern Rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
, led by The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The band's blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s...
, Wet Willie and Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old...
.
Early career in London, England. 1958 to 1966
Frank Fenter was born in JohannesburgJohannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and moved to London, England, in 1958, at the age of 22, initially determined to become an actor. Fenter's acting career included a feature role in the BBC's 1963 The Big Pull
The Big Pull
The Big Pull was a highly-innovative BBC science-fiction series concerning an alien invasion of earth.Unlike conventional science-fiction of the Doctor Who-type, there were no monsters or humanoid aliens. In this respect it was similar to A for Andromeda.The events occur during early space...
; in 1964, he produced, co-wrote and acted in Africa Shakes, the first South African rock movie, which featured Fenter's music act Bill Kimber and the Couriers. The movie was the first to have an interracial
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
cast in Apartheid South Africa.
While doing part-time acting, Fenter began to book bands around London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the early 1960s, including The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
and Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
, long before they had recording contracts. Fenter got his first big break in the music industry in 1964, when he joined Chapell Music Publishing Co.; he went on to head Liberty-Imperial Record Publishing and later ARC/Chess Music.
Atlantic Records. London, England. 1966 to 1969
In 1966, Frank Fenter was chosen by Atlantic RecordsAtlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
partner Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun was a Turkish record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.-Background:Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Nesuhi and his family, including younger brother Ahmet, moved to Washington, D.C...
to head the label in the United Kingdom. Within six months, Frank Fenter was the Managing Director in charge of Atlantic Records' operations in all of Europe. Fenter was responsible for making Atlantic Records the most important American label in promoting British music, according to the late Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
, co-founder and Chairman of Atlantic Records. Working with his good friend Giorgio Gomelsky
Giorgio Gomelsky
Giorgio Gomelsky is a filmmaker, impresario, music manager, songwriter and record producer. He owned the Crawdaddy Club where The Rolling Stones were house band, and he was involved with their early management. He hired The Yardbirds as a replacement and managed them. He was also their...
, the former manager of the Yardbirds and the first manager of the Rolling Stones, Fenter played a vital role in having brought Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
to Atlantic Records and helped discover and sign such British progressive-rock groups as Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
and King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
.
According to Ahmet Ertegun, Frank Fenter was instrumental in breaking Rhythm and Blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
music throughout Europe, having brought the "Hit the Road Stax" tour there in the spring of 1967; which included the acts Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, Sam and Dave and Booker T and the MGs. At the start of the European tour, Fenter had Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd
Tom Dowd was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.- Early years :Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew...
record the live concerts and with Fenter's direction, Stax Records
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
, a label affiliated with Atlantic Records, experienced a sales jump, with seven of the eleven albums recorded live on the European tour received gold certifications.
Capricorn Records. Macon, Georgia. 1969 to 1983
In 1969, Frank Fenter and his good friends, the brothers Phil WaldenPhil Walden
Phil Walden was co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records with his younger brother Alan Walden and a good friend and former Atlantic Records executive, Frank Fenter....
and Alan Walden
Alan Walden
Alan Walden was born May 23, 1943 in Macon, Georgia to C.B. and Carolyn Walden. He is an American manager, publisher, booking agent, and promoter....
, former co-managers of Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, Sam and Dave, and other Stax artists, formed Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
with a distribution deal from Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
. Working with Phil Walden and Jerry Wexler
Jerry Wexler
Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
, Frank Fenter negotiated the Capricorn deal with his mentor, Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
Frank Fenter and Phil Walden envisioned a new kind of record company structure that would be vertically integrated. Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
would have loosely held subsidiary companies that encompassed all facets of the music business, including artist management, with Phil Walden and Associates; a booking agency, the Paragon Agency; a music publishing house, No Exit Music; and artist merchandising, with the Great Southern Company.
Frank Fenter took the helm of Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
while Phil Walden focused on artist management and together they helped popularize the genre of Southern Rock
Southern rock
Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music, and genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitar and vocals...
. At the height of Capricorn Record's success, Fortune magazine, the business periodical, went on to recognize Fenter as a "Promotional Genius". Singly or together, the two partners discovered and signed such recording artists as The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The band's blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s...
, Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old...
, Wet Willie, Sea Level
Sea Level (band)
Sea Level is the name of a fusion group that mixed jazz, blues and rock. It existed between 1976 and 1981. Initially, it was an offshoot of The Allman Brothers Band, but as tensions grew between the loss of two of its founding members, and personal greivances between Gregg Allman and other...
, The Dixie Dregs, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Thorpe
Billy Thorpe
William Richard "Billy" Thorpe, AM was a renowned English-born Australian pop / rock singer-songwriter and musician...
, Stillwater
Stillwater (band)
Stillwater was an American band of the 1970s, which played Southern rock with a folk flair.Their song Mindbender charted in the top 100 singles in 1978. The band existed from 1973 to 1982 and was based in Warner Robins, Georgia. They released two albums on Capricorn Records, Stillwater , which...
and Alex Taylor
Alex Taylor
Alex Taylor is a former pornographic actress who mainly worked for Vivid Entertainment from 1998 to 2004....
. In 1975, Fenter negotiated with the South African apartheid government to have Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
recording artist Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray
Dobie Gray is an African American singer and songwriter, whose musical career has spanned soul, country, pop and musical theater...
be the first artist to perform in front of a multi-racial audience in his native home of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
declared bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
in late 1979, but, in 1983, Frank Fenter and Phil Walden restructured Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records
Capricorn Records was an independent record label which was launched by Phil Walden, Alan Walden, and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia.-First Incarnation:...
and were ready to forge a comeback, however, in the middle of negotiating a distribution deal with Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin is a record executive who has worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels...
, the Chairman of Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, Fenter died of a heart attack in the Capricorn office; with his death, the deal with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
fell apart.
Frank Fenter died in Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, from a heart attack at the age of 47.