Julian Aberbach
Encyclopedia
Julian J. Aberbach was an Austria
n-born music publisher, who lived and worked in both the United States
and France
. He was responsible, with his younger brother Jean Aberbach
, for establishing the Hill and Range music publishing house, and was instrumental in the careers of many leading country
and popular music
performers of the mid and late twentieth century, including Elvis Presley
, Johnny Cash
, Ray Charles
, Edith Piaf
and Jacques Brel
.
, the son of Anna and Aron Adolf Aberbach, who were Ukrainian
Jews
. His father ran a jewelry business. Julian left school at the age of 17 and went to the Tyrol with his brother, selling upholstery
, before returning to Vienna. His brother Jean
then began working in Berlin
for a music publisher, Will Meisel, before moving to Paris
to work for another publisher there. Julian joined him in Paris in 1932, and soon established his own publishing business, which concentrated on securing royalties for movie screenwriters. After the brothers sold the business in 1936, Jean began working in the US as an agent for French music publisher Francis Salabert, while Julian remained in Paris. In 1939 he secured an exit visa to travel to New York
. He was draft
ed in 1941, and after working with Free French troops in Fort Benning
, Georgia
, became an instructor at a military intelligence school in Maryland
, from where he was discharged in 1944.
By this time he had developed an interest in country music
, which he saw as a potentially profitable component of American popular music. After leaving the Army he set up a publishing business, Hill and Range, in Los Angeles
with business partners Milton Blink and Gerald King. There, he heard the Western swing
bandleader Spade Cooley
who was performing at the Venice Pier. He signed Cooley to a songwriting contract, and had immediate success with Cooley's hit song "Shame on You
". Soon afterwards, he began working with Bob Wills
, setting up a publishing company in Wills' name in which Aberbach had a 50% share. He developed contacts in the music industry in Nashville, and organised the songwriting agreements for such stars as Red Foley
, Ernest Tubb
, Eddy Arnold
, Hank Snow
, and, later, Johnny Cash
. At one point, about three quarters of all the music produced in Nashville was represented by Hill and Range. When Max Dreyfus of rival publishers Chappell Music sought to buy the company, Aberbach refused, and his brother Jean, who had been working for Dreyfus, joined the company. From then on the two brothers shared the management of Hill and Range, gradually expanding the business, with Julian notionally based in Los Angeles and Jean in New York, although the two frequently swapped roles and met regularly in Chicago
to discuss business.
In 1955 Hank Snow suggested that Aberbach check out a new singer, Elvis Presley
. Aberbach was impressed by Presley, helped his own friend, Colonel Tom Parker
, become his manager, and helped negotiate his move from Sun Records
to RCA
. He also set up an unprecedented arrangement in which the publishing rights to songs that Presley recorded were split 50:50 between Hill and Range and Presley. Aberbach established his cousin, Freddy Bienstock
, as head of Elvis Presley Music, and organised writers to provide songs for Presley's films and albums. In effect, this precluded Presley from recording material not licensed to Hill and Range.
Aberbach also developed his interests in France, contracting Johnny Hallyday
to record songs recorded by Presley. He also worked closely with Edith Piaf
, and with Jacques Brel
and Mort Shuman
, who provided English language versions of many of Brel's songs. By the early 1970s, after Hill and Range had become the biggest independent music publishing business in the world, Aberbach and his family moved their main residence to Paris. Shortly afterwards, while on a business trip to New York, Aberbach suffered a major heart attack and was hospitalised for several months. His brother then sold 75% of the Hill and Range publishing rights to the Warner Chappell company.
He effectively retired from the music business in the early 1970s, but expanded his collection of paintings and sculpture, and later opened the Aberbach Gallery in New York. He received the Abe Olman Award for music publishers at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 2000, and received the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2003, in recognition of his unique contribution to French culture.
Julian Aberbach died of heart failure in New York in 2004 at the age of 95.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
n-born music publisher, who lived and worked in both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He was responsible, with his younger brother Jean Aberbach
Jean Aberbach
Joachim "Jean" Aberbach was an Austrian-born American music publisher. With his brother Julian, he was responsible for establishing Hill and Range as one of the leading music publishing houses, responsible for songs recorded by Elvis Presley and many others.-Life and career:Aberbach was born in...
, for establishing the Hill and Range music publishing house, and was instrumental in the careers of many leading country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
performers of the mid and late twentieth century, including Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
, Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
and Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
.
Life and career
Aberbach was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the son of Anna and Aron Adolf Aberbach, who were Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. His father ran a jewelry business. Julian left school at the age of 17 and went to the Tyrol with his brother, selling upholstery
Upholstery
Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic,...
, before returning to Vienna. His brother Jean
Jean Aberbach
Joachim "Jean" Aberbach was an Austrian-born American music publisher. With his brother Julian, he was responsible for establishing Hill and Range as one of the leading music publishing houses, responsible for songs recorded by Elvis Presley and many others.-Life and career:Aberbach was born in...
then began working in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
for a music publisher, Will Meisel, before moving to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to work for another publisher there. Julian joined him in Paris in 1932, and soon established his own publishing business, which concentrated on securing royalties for movie screenwriters. After the brothers sold the business in 1936, Jean began working in the US as an agent for French music publisher Francis Salabert, while Julian remained in Paris. In 1939 he secured an exit visa to travel to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He was draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
ed in 1941, and after working with Free French troops in Fort Benning
Fort Benning
Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, became an instructor at a military intelligence school in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, from where he was discharged in 1944.
By this time he had developed an interest in country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, which he saw as a potentially profitable component of American popular music. After leaving the Army he set up a publishing business, Hill and Range, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with business partners Milton Blink and Gerald King. There, he heard the Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
bandleader Spade Cooley
Spade Cooley
Donnell Clyde Cooley , better known as Spade Cooley, was an American Western swing musician, big band leader, actor, and television personality...
who was performing at the Venice Pier. He signed Cooley to a songwriting contract, and had immediate success with Cooley's hit song "Shame on You
Shame On You (Cooley song)
"Shame on You" is a Western Swing song written by Spade Cooley and became his signature song.The title comes from the refrain that starts each verse:In the song, the singer is rebuking his straying girlfriend....
". Soon afterwards, he began working with Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
, setting up a publishing company in Wills' name in which Aberbach had a 50% share. He developed contacts in the music industry in Nashville, and organised the songwriting agreements for such stars as Red Foley
Red Foley
Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....
, Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
, Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
, Hank Snow
Hank Snow
Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian-American country music artist. He charted more than 70 singles on the Billboard country charts from 1950 until 1980...
, and, later, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. At one point, about three quarters of all the music produced in Nashville was represented by Hill and Range. When Max Dreyfus of rival publishers Chappell Music sought to buy the company, Aberbach refused, and his brother Jean, who had been working for Dreyfus, joined the company. From then on the two brothers shared the management of Hill and Range, gradually expanding the business, with Julian notionally based in Los Angeles and Jean in New York, although the two frequently swapped roles and met regularly in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
to discuss business.
In 1955 Hank Snow suggested that Aberbach check out a new singer, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
. Aberbach was impressed by Presley, helped his own friend, Colonel Tom Parker
Colonel Tom Parker
"Colonel" Thomas Andrew "Tom" Parker born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk, was a Dutch-born entertainment impresario known best as the manager of Elvis Presley...
, become his manager, and helped negotiate his move from Sun Records
Sun Records
Sun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
to RCA
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
. He also set up an unprecedented arrangement in which the publishing rights to songs that Presley recorded were split 50:50 between Hill and Range and Presley. Aberbach established his cousin, Freddy Bienstock
Freddy Bienstock
Freddy Bienstock was an American music publisher who built his career in music by being the person responsible for soliciting and selecting songs for Elvis Presley's early albums and films.-Early life:...
, as head of Elvis Presley Music, and organised writers to provide songs for Presley's films and albums. In effect, this precluded Presley from recording material not licensed to Hill and Range.
Aberbach also developed his interests in France, contracting Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he was considered by some to have been the French Elvis Presley. He was married for 15 years to one of the most popular French female singers: Sylvie Vartan...
to record songs recorded by Presley. He also worked closely with Edith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
, and with Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
and Mort Shuman
Mort Shuman
Mort Shuman was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas"...
, who provided English language versions of many of Brel's songs. By the early 1970s, after Hill and Range had become the biggest independent music publishing business in the world, Aberbach and his family moved their main residence to Paris. Shortly afterwards, while on a business trip to New York, Aberbach suffered a major heart attack and was hospitalised for several months. His brother then sold 75% of the Hill and Range publishing rights to the Warner Chappell company.
He effectively retired from the music business in the early 1970s, but expanded his collection of paintings and sculpture, and later opened the Aberbach Gallery in New York. He received the Abe Olman Award for music publishers at the Songwriters Hall of Fame
Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
in 2000, and received the National Order of the Legion of Honour in 2003, in recognition of his unique contribution to French culture.
Personal life and death
Aberbach married Anne Marie in 1953. They had two sons, Dolfi who died aged 23 in 1983 and Ronny who died in an accident the same year, and a daughter, Belinda. His brother Jean Aberbach died in 1992.Julian Aberbach died of heart failure in New York in 2004 at the age of 95.
Further reading
- Bar Biszick-Lockwood, Restless Giant: The Life and Times of Jean Aberbach and Hill and Range Songs, University of Illinois Press, 2010