Phil Carson
Phil Carson One of the pioneers of of rock and roll’s most prolific era, Phil Carson, former Senior Vice
President at Atlantic Records and current President of Phil Carson Associates, is responsible
for signing and managing some of music’s most influential bands while establishing an
enduring career that continues to innovate the business today. Carson played an integral
role in shaping the trailblazing careers of such icons as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Twisted Sister,
Yes, Motorhead and Foreigner.
Getting his start as a successful recording and touring musician, notably alongside Dusty
Springfield, Carson was quickly drawn to the business side of music, initially working for
the Swedish record label that was the first home to Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.
That relationship eventually resulted in ABBA signing to Atlantic Records for America and
Canada.
From 1968-1985, Carson was Senior Vice President at Atlantic and a major contributor at the
label in the development of its trio of ground breaking English bands -- Led Zeppelin, Yes,
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He personally signed such multi-platinum artists as AC/DC,
Twisted Sister and Gary Numan to Atlantic, brought Phil Collins to WEA, America to Warner
Brothers, and co-produced the multi-platinum Honeydrippers CD with Robert Plant and
Ahmet Ertegun. He was also responsible for bringing Virgin Records to the United States by
signing a deal with Richard Branson, giving Atlantic distribution rights to the Virgin label for
many years. The first release under that agreement was the multi-platinum “Tubular Bells,”
an epic piece of music that became the soundtrack of The Exorcist.
As President of the music division of JVC, Carson developed the classic rock-oriented Victory
Music label. He earned a Grammy nomination for the acclaimed “Muddy Water Blues”
album from Paul Rodgers and scored chart positions with new albums by David Bowie,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.
From joining Led Zeppelin in concert to jam on bass guitar, and saving AC/DC from Atlantic’s
chopping block following their “Dirty Deeds” release in 1976, to orchestrating the launch of
Robert Plant’s solo career and masterminding the return of Foreigner to renewed chart and
touring success, Carson’s career has become the stuff of legend.
Currently, Carson is the President of Phil Carson Associates, a management and music
company whose client list has included Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, Yes,
Foreigner, Motorhead, Bad Company, The Who (for sponsorship marketing) Twisted Sister,
Jason Bonham, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, ASIA and Rolling Stone, Ronnie Wood.
Other projects include “Good Rockin’ Tonight – The Legacy of Sun Records”, a PBS TV
documentary and soundtrack album that he produced with Ahmet Ertegun. The Billboard
chart soundtrack CD features newly recorded tracks from such luminaries as Eric Clapton,
Bob Dylan, Elton John, Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Tom Petty, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow.
His latest film is the American Masters documentary on Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic
Records, ‘The House That Ahmet Built”. In 2007, he set up and directed the Ahmet Ertegun
Education Fund board that organized the London concert reunion and final performance of
Led Zeppelin.