Gary James' Interview With The CEO of Brunswick Records
Paul Tarnopol



Between 1957 and 1981 Brunswick Records recording artists charted 150 Billboard singles, which included 14 Top 10 hits. During the 1960s and 1970s Brunswick Records was responsible for launching the careers of people like Jackie Wilson, The Chi-Lites and Gene Chandler. Nat Tarnopol was the President of the label during that time period. He transformed Brunswick Records from a label best known for Lawrence Welk and Brenda Lee to top R&B artists like Little Richard, La Vern Baker, Jackie Wilson, Gene Chandler and The Chi-Lites. Now, Paul Tarnopol is at the helm of Brunswick Records. Among his new projects is the release, or we should say re-release of an album titled "Little Joe Sure Can Sing!", recorded by Joe Ritchie, whom the world would come to know as actor Joe Pesci. We spoke with Paul Tarnopol about that album, the record business today and the record business of the past.

Q - Paul, not only am I impressed with talking to the CEO of a record company, but I'm surprised that there is such a thing as a record company today. From everything I've been told the record business is dead. It's ancient history. And you would say what about that?

A - These are actually good times for the record industry. There was a time maybe five years ago (2017) that the thought was the industry was over because sales were so low due to illegal downloads, but streaming has really rebuilt the industry and these are actually good times for the record business. If you look at the revenue charts for the last five years, they've gone up every year.

Q - I have no idea of how old of a guy you are, but were you in the offices of Brunswick Records when your father was signing the acts of the '60s and '70s?

A - I started working in the mail room in the early '70s during the summer time when I was off from school. I'm 58 years old. I was born in '63. So, I was like 9 years old, working in the mail room during the summer times.

Q - Did you ever get to meet people like Jackie Wilson or Little Richard?

A - Oh, sure.

Q - La Vern Baker?

A - I never met La Vern Baker or Little Richard, but I knew Jackie very well. Jackie would come to the office. He'd come over to our house as well with Arlene, his wife. I knew The Chi-Lites back in those years. Yeah, I knew quite a few of the acts.

Q - Did they mean anything to you? Did you know how important a role they played in music history?

A - I kind of did. To a certain extent I did know. I was exposed to R&B music at a very young age. We grew up in the suburbs. Like, my mother would have her radio stations on her car, WABC in New York, a Pop station, but my dad's car was WPLS. It was one of these R&B stations. So, I really did have a good understanding of how important R&B was to at least a certain part of the population. I kind of grew up with it. I was very familiar with it. I just knew from being told how important these artists were. So, I did have a basic understanding of that. I probably did not appreciate that until later on in life.

Q - Before your father was involved in Brunswick, the company was known for artists like Lawrence Welk and Brenda Lee. Didn't they sell a lot of records for the company?

A - I couldn't tell you. Just to go a little further back, Brunswick had been passed around many times. It was a brand that was first part of the Brunswick Book Condor Company. They were kind of into pool tables. It was then sold to Warner Bros. Pictures in the '30s. I think it was sold to Columbia Records in the '40s, the brand itself. That brand was sold to Decca Records in 1950. It was just a brand. I don't want to say it was a White label, but it was mainly a White label, White artists. Prior to 1960 Brunswick Records was simply a brand owned by Decca Records. Brunswick Record Corporation was formed in 1960 by my father Nat and Decca Records and from that point on it was an strictly an R&B label. In addition to signing Black recording artists, the label employed Black producers, arrangers, songwriters, A&R and promotion people.

Q - Your father, along with record producer Carl Davis purchased the assets of Vee Jay Records in 1967. Did that include any Beatles recordings or don't you know?

A - No, I do not know. With Vee Jay out of business in 1966, Brunswick then purchased some of the physical assets, not the catalog. In fact, Chess Records also purchased some of their assets from their building on 1449 Michigan Avenue. Brunswick then picked up the lease in the same building and started building their own studio, but did not buy any of the intellectual property that was owned by Vee Jay.

Q - Who got the intellectual property then?

A - I think Vee Jay was recently sold. It may have been the Pritzer family. I'm not sure who bought Vee Jay at one point. I think it was sold in the last ten years or so.

Q - Brunswick is releasing this Joe Pesci album recorded in 1968. Who are you trying to target this album to? Is it in conjunction with a Joe Pesci film?

A - Well, it's really funny. To be quite honest I was never even aware of the album until '92. We got a phone call from the (David) Letterman show, asking if they could show the album and play a song on the show that evening because Joe Pesci was going to be on the show. They wanted to surprise him with it. We said, "Sure." We did not know much about it, but it turned out, as you said, it was released in '68 way before Joe Pesci was a big star. All I knew was that they wanted to use it for the show. And of course we learned more about the record. Then last year we had a request from David Chase's company to use the album in their film, which came out last year (2021), The Many Saints Of Newark. So that kind of sparked a conversation between myself and Rich Kamerman, our label director about releasing it on Spotify and all the other streaming services. The record was never re-released after it came out on CD. So, it was very rare. In fact, when Pesci was on the Letterman show he asked David if he could have the record because he didn't have a copy of it. It was that rare. So, we decided to release it on all the streaming platforms. It's really for Joe Pesci fans and fans of his films. I don't think that we're trying to hit a certain market outside of Joe Pesci fans.

Q - Of course the album was credited to Joe Ritchie, not Joe Pesci. Did he come up with using that name, or was that your father's idea?

A - I couldn't tell you. Nat passed away a few years before Joe Pesci became a big star from Goodfellows and Casino. So, I never had the opportunity to ask him about it. So I couldn't tell you. The only thing I could tell you about that part of it would only be speculation. It is strange why an R&B label would put out an album like that by a White, unknown artist doing cover songs. I doubt that it was going to be profitable. We have an R&B label. Everything is geared toward R&B, your A&R, your promotion, your marketing. Everything is geared towards the Black market, and that includes Black radio. They weren't going to get this record on Black radio for sure. Okay, why was it released? Well again speculating, probably one of two reasons. Either there was pressure to put it out by someone, or it was just a favor. I know Joe's manager at the time was a guy named Monte Kay. Monte Kay was married to Diahann Carroll and was also the manager of Flip Wilson. Nat was very friendly with Flip Wilson. So, it's quite possible that they said, "Would you please put this record out for this young artist I'm carrying?" Why do you want a record out if you're an artist? Because it helps your performers to say, "I have a record out on the market now." So, it was probably just a favor. I doubt it was anything more than that. But again, that's just speculation at this point.

Q - Is Brunswick Record re-releasing recorded albums or are you actively seeking to sign new artists right now?

A - No. Brunswick is strictly a catalog label. We specialize in only the records that exist in the catalog up to 1981 when the label ceased operating. We just want the brand to be associated with those artists and that kind of music.

Q - You and Brunswick acquired the rights to Menudo?

A - Well, not Brunswick. I acquired the rights to Menudo in 2016 with our company Menudo International. And that's something we're working on right now to re-launch Menudo. For the last few years we've had to re-register the trademarks throughout the world for Menudo. We're at the point now where we're getting ready to start putting together the new band.

Q - You obviously feel there's a big marketplace for the Menudo trademark then.

A - Well, yeah. If you're familiar with Menudo, Menudo is a concept of renewal. When a kid gets too old, they're replaced by new, younger kids. So, you've had forty-five different Menudos over the years, artists performing in Menudo. It was very successful for a couple of decades. So, we feel that the strength of that Latin market is hard to ignore right now. We think there's a real void for a group like Menudo that will cater to the teen and pre-teen Latin market.

Q - Can you tell me why the Mob would be involved in the record company business? And I'm not singling out any one record company. The record business seems like such a fickle business. I can't imagine any mobster sitting in a recording studio saying, "You were a little flat on that last note."

A - Mobsters have been involved in the entertainment industry going all the way back to speakeasies and jukeboxes. The music industry was a street business where performers were often paid in cash and cash was used to get records on the radio. Naturally, this environment was very attractive to the mob and obviously the music industry was completely mobbed up in '60s and '70s in regards to radio promotion, artist management and artist bookings due to the mob's control over nightclubs and concert venues. It was just the waters you swam in.

Q - Would mobsters be involved in the creative end of the record business? Would they be involved in the recording process?

A - Speaking for our label, mobsters were not a presence in the recording studio. However, it wasn't and isn't uncommon for shady characters to start their own record labels and even produce their own records. The excitement of making money with a hit record is very enticing to almost everyone.

Official Website: www.BrunswickRecords.com

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