Gerry Bron

Gerald Lincoln "Gerry" Bron (1 March 1933 – 18 June 2012[1]) was an English record producer and band manager. In his early days, he managed the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.[2]

Life and career

The logo of Bronze Records
The logo of Bron's record label, Bronze Records

Bron was born in Hendon, Middlesex, into a Jewish family.[3] the elder brother of actress Eleanor Bron. Their father, Sydney, shortened the family's surname to "Bron" from "Bronstein" when founding Bron's Orchestral Service.[4] Bron's record label, Bronze Records, was founded in 1971 [5] and was home to many popular bands, including Uriah Heep, Osibisa, Paladin, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Real Kids, Sally Oldfield, Motörhead, The Damned, Girlschool, Bronz and Hawkwind [6]

Bron's career in music covered just about every aspect of the industry. He was at various times a clarinetist, a sheet music printer, an artist manager handling acts including Gene Pitney, Marianne Faithfull, Manfred Mann, Colosseum and Uriah Heep, a record producer working with the Bonzo Dog Band, Juicy Lucy and all the acts he managed with the exception of Faithfull, a booking agent, record label owner and a studio owner and manager at Roundhouse Studios. Bron was brought up in a family steeped in the music industry. His father's company, Bron's Orchestral Service, was claimed to be the largest supplier of sheet music in the UK. Gerry Bron joined the company at 16 to assist his father when Bron senior's health started to fail. "I , suspect I may have left school at 16 anyway," Gerry commented in an interview with Billboard's Encyclopaedia of Record Producers.[7]

The company moved into music publishing and one of the first acts that Gerry Bron was responsible for was Gene Pitney. This business relationship led to Bron and Pitney discussing making records together and Bron produced all the demos for the publishing company. The positive response to the quality of these encouraged Bron to move into the area of production more actively and he produced Manfred Mann's hit singles "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown", "My Name Is Jack" and "Fox On The Run". This was followed by albums with Colosseum and Uriah Heep.

Selective list of album productions

Selective list of single productions

References

  1. ↑ International Who's Who in Popular Music, Volume 4
  2. ↑ Carruthers, Bob (2008). The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. Coda Books.
  3. ↑ Births England and Wales 1837-2006
  4. ↑ Westbrook, Caroline (2007-04-03). "Gerry Bron interview". Something Jewish. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  5. ↑ "Bronze Records". The Metal Archives.
  6. ↑ "Bronze Records". Spirit of Metal Webzine.
  7. ↑ "Gerry Bron (1933-2012)". PSN Europe. 21 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Chartwatch.co.uk - Gerry Bron

External links