Elektra Records
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Elektra Records was a record label started in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickholt, who both invested $300. It was acquired by Kinney National Company in 1970, along with Holzman's Nonesuch Records, for $10 million. Soon afterwards Kinney consolidated their label holdings under the Warner Communications umbrella. Holzman remained in charge until 1972, when Asylum Records and Elektra were combined and Asylum's director (David Geffen) was put in charge. Holzman went on to start Discovery Records.
Elektra continued as part of Warner Music Group for another thirty years. In February 2004 Warner Music Group was sold by AOL Time Warner to a group of private investors made up of Thomas Lee Partners, Bain & Company and Edgar Bronfman Jr (who assumed CEO duties). By April, the new owners of WMG closed the doors at Elektra, laying off much of the staff. Many artists were dropped outright, while some continued their deals with other labels under the WMG umbrella (Warner Brothers Records and Atlantic Records). Elektra was absorbed into Atlantic.
A full history of Elektra's "Holzman years" can be found in Jac Holzman's book "Follow the Music: The Life and High Times of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture".
Artists
- 10,000 Maniacs
- AC/DC
- Atomic Rooster
- The Afghan Whigs
- Bad Company
- The Beautiful South
- Better Than Ezra
- Blaque
- Blindside
- Björk
- Karla Bonoff
- Bread
- The Breeders
- Jackson Browne
- Buffalo Springfield
- Busta Rhymes
- The Call
- The Cars
- Harry Chapin
- Tracy Chapman
- Natalie Cole
- Judy Collins
- The Cure
- Dokken
- The Doors
- Down
- Dream Theater
- The Eagles
- Missy Elliott
- Emmylou Harris
- Faster Pussycat
- Glenn Frey
- Jimmie Dale Gilmore
- Nanci Griffith
- Sara Hickman
- Hoodoo Gurus Rock
- The Housemartins
- Huey Lewis and the News
- Colin James
- Etta James
- Jet
- Howard Jones
- Ben E. King
- Ziggy Marley
- MC5
- Sergio Mendes
- Natalie Merchant
- Metallica
- Joni Mitchell
- Moby
- Mötley Crüe
- Jason Mraz
- Nada Surf
- Phil Ochs
- Ol' Dirty Bastard
- Old 97's
- Pantera
- Teddy Pendergrass
- Phish
- Pixies
- The Pogues
- Leon Redbone
- Linda Ronstadt
- Tom Rush
- Patrice Rushen
- David Sanborn
- Georgia Satellites
- Peter Schilling
- Carly Simon
- Nina Simone
- Simply Red
- The Sisters of Mercy
- Phoebe Snow
- Staind
- Dave Stewart
- The Stooges
- The Sugarcubes
- Keith Sweat
- Sweetwater
- Tangerine Dream
- They Might Be Giants
- Third Eye Blind
- Violent Femmes
- Tom Waits
- Grover Washington Jr.
- Ween
- X
- Yes
- Warren Zevon
- John Zorn
See also
External link
- Official site (http://www.elektra.com/elektra/labelHome.jhtml)de:Elektra Records