Everything about Mo Ostin totally explained
Mo Ostin (born
March 27,
1927) is a
record executive, who has worked for several companies, including
Verve,
Reprise,
Warner Bros. Records, and
DreamWorks. He was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by
Paul Simon,
Neil Young, and
Lorne Michaels. He is known among his colleagues as the most artist-friendly executive in the music business.
He was hired as president of Reprise by
Frank Sinatra from Verve where he'd been the accountant. At Reprise he was involved with such artists as
Ella Fitzgerald,
Sammy Davis, Jr., and
The Kinks.
In 1967, after a trip to the
Monterey Pop Festival, he signed
Jimi Hendrix.
Eventually he became the president of Reprise's parent company, Warner Bros. Records, where he signed numerous acts, including
The Beach Boys,
Neil Young,
Frank Zappa,
The Fugs,
Paul Simon,
Van Halen, and
Prince. Ostin's work made Warners the biggest record company in the world and a model for the late 20th-century record company. He created an image of Warner Bros. as a haven for top musicians. The Warner creative execs included Joe Smith, Lenny Waronker, Stan Cornyn, Ted Templeman, and David Berman. After over two decades leading Warners, he resigned over corporate politics.
He returned to music in 1996 to lead
DreamWorks Records for
David Geffen. Under his eight-year tenure the label had successes with
Nelly Furtado,
Papa Roach, and
All-American Rejects. The label was sold in 2004 and Ostin retired.
Ostin was the inspiration for
Little Feat's song
A Apolitical Blues and its lyric "the telephone was ringing, and they told me it was Chairman Mao" was a veiled reference to "Chairman Mo". Good friend
George Harrison wrote "Mo" for him that appeared on the compilation
Mo's Songs.
Notes and references
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