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Russ Regan | |
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Birth name | Harold Rustigian |
Born | Sanger, California, U.S. | October 15, 1928
Died | May 27, 2018 Palm Springs, California, U.S. | (aged 89)
Occupation(s) | Record executive |
Labels | UNI, 20th Century, Motown |
Russ Regan (born Harold Rustigian; October 15, 1928 in Sanger, California [1] – May 27, 2018 in Palm Springs, California) [2] was an American record executive who was President of both UNI Records and 20th Century Records [3] and was vice-president of A&R at Motown. [4] Regan is the rare executive to have seen No. 1 hits in four successive decades.
He started his career in the 1950s as a composer and record producer. His first notable hit was a 1959 Christmas novelty song, inspired by " The Chipmunk Song", titled "The Happy Reindeer" credited to Dancer, Prancer and Nervous (No. 34, Pop) issued by Capitol Records. [5] In the early 1960s, Regan recorded "Joan of Love", backed with "Adults Only", which was released under the name Russ Regan.[ citation needed] He also recorded "Calling All Cars" under the name Davy Summers for Warner Brothers with producer Sonny Bono.[ citation needed] In the mid-1960s, he was drafted in to help form a musical direction for Warner Brothers' fledgling pop/soul music subsidiary, Loma Records.[ citation needed]
Regan started in record promotion with Motown in the early years of the company.[ citation needed] His first project there was the company's first Billboard Hot 100 number one record, " Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes in 1961.[ citation needed] He would go on to promote songs by The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye.[ citation needed] He suggested the name of The Beach Boys when a Los Angeles group called Carl & The Passions had just recorded a song called " Surfin'". [3] He also helped Frank Sinatra record his No. 4 hit, "That's Life" in 1966.[ citation needed] He struck a deal with Jimmy Miller Productions when Miller left The Rolling Stones, which resulted in albums from B.B. King, Henry Gross, Bobby Whitlock, and others.[ citation needed] Regan also signed Ambrosia and Harriet Schock to 20th Century Records.[ citation needed]
Russ Regan played a major role in the careers of a number of recording artists, as he headed up labels such as Uni, 20th Century and Phonogram Records. [3] Dozens of recording artists, including Elton John, Neil Diamond, Barry White, Olivia Newton-John and The Beach Boys had Regan to thank for opening the doors for their success. [6] One of his most surprising successes while at UNI was South African trumpeter Hugh Masakela's "Grazing In The Grass" in 1968, which sold over a million and reached the top spot in the Billboard pop chart.[ citation needed]
While President of 20th Century Records, Regan was inspired from a dream to create the movie All This and World War II, which saw Fox News footage from WWII backed with various artists singing Beatles songs.[ citation needed] The movie was never released on video, and it remains in the vaults of 20th Century Fox.[ citation needed] Regan also supervised the soundtracks for the movies Endless Love, Breakin', The Karate Kid, All The Right Moves, Love At First Bite, This Is Spinal Tap, and A Chorus Line.[ citation needed] Regan was also the Music Supervisor for four Academy Award-winning songs from the films The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Flashdance, and Chariots of Fire.[ citation needed]