Marvin Schlachter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marvin Herbert Schlachter (1933-11-25)November 25, 1933 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 2024(2024-09-19) (aged 90) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | City College of New York |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Pop,Soul,Disco,Boogie,Freestyle |
| Years active | 1959-2000s |
| Labels | |
Musical artist | |
Marvin Herbert Schlachter (November 25, 1933 – September 19, 2024) was an American record companymusic executive andrecord label owner. Schlachter was a founder and owner[1][2][3][4] ofScepter Records,Wand Records,Prelude Records, and helmed a number of high ranking roles at others such asGRT Records,Janus Records,Chess Records andPye Records US.
Schlachter is best known for his work nurturing talent during the 1960s includingDionne Warwick,the Shirelles,Tammi Terrell,Chuck Jackson,The Kingsmen andB.J. Thomas.
Schlachter was born inManhattan, New York, on November 25, 1933, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland.[5] He received a degree in business administration fromCity College in 1955.[5] After two years with the army, he spent some months as aCBS mailroom operative before becoming an advertising representative forCashbox magazine from 1958 to 1960.[6][7][8] Schlachter metFlorence Greenburg at a radio station while she was plugging theShirelles' girl group first single "I Met Him on a Sunday". AfterDecca dropped the group, Greenburg asked Schlachter to help her start up a new label with the group as its first act.[9] Schlachter spent the following nine years[10] with Scepter Records as executive vice president, overseeing a key role in Scepter's early rise during their successfulBacharach-David-Warwick /Chuck Jackson /BJ Thomas period, with annual revenues within the first few years of operation totalling $3 million.[11]
TheGeneral Recorded Tape company had been working with Scepter during the past decade, and in July 1969 established ajoint venture with the England-basedPye Records, to formJanus Records in the United States. An offer was made for Schlachter to become the new label's president.[12][13] He soon established Janus with eleven hit singles, including a gold record and several chart albums in the first year of operation.[14] Schlachter set about building a competitive business by means of both internal expansion and exclusive distribution agreements with labels such asWestbound andBarnaby, the reactivation of GRT Nashville, and the acquisition of theMetromedia Records Country label. In 1972, Pye Records dropped their interest in Janus Records, and GRT continued the venture, Schlachter being appointed head of all the associated GRT labels which includedChess Records.[15]
In 1974, Pye established an American version of its record label, ATV/Pye Records. Schlachter was made president of its operations in March 1976,[16] but the label was not a success, having only one hit,Brotherhood of Man's "Save Your Kisses for Me" peaking moderately at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 during July.[17] Further issues over financing[2] and artistic direction led to Pye UK closing it down in January 1977.[18] Schlachter then startedPrelude Records in February 1977, named after one of Pye's acts of the time,Prelude; its initial LP and 45 catalogue series were carried over from the ill-fated Pye label (with the catalogue prefix changed from PYE- to PRL-), along with a number of artists already signed.[19] Staff at the burgeoning label included DJFrancois Kevorkian taking up anA&R role and production duties.[6] Prelude had a string ofdisco anddance music hits into the mid-1980s, the label's most prominent acts includingFrance Joli and James 'D-Train' Williams. The label was closed in 1986, and its catalog sold toUnidisc.[2]
Savoy Records was a gospel and jazz label from the 1940s, the gospel arm was obtained by Schlachter from 1983 and run alongside Prelude. Its best known acts wereAlbertina Walker,Rev. Clay Evans, and the New Jerusalem Baptist Choir. The label was sold toMalaco Records in late 1986.[20][21]
In 1987,Micky Garcia, a New York DJ, attended theNew Music Seminar at theMarriot Marquis hotel inTimes Square where he met Schlachter. Garcia was aware of his background having had played many songs from the Prelude Records roster while performing onKiss FM. Schlachter asked Garcia if he would produce songs for MarTru Records (aportmanteau of Marvin and Trudy,[22] his wife), a new record label he was starting up, which was duly done in June 1987 with funding from Schlachter.[23] While MicMac catered to the main pop andfreestyle genre, MarTru ended up being a sub label to MicMac and focused on the house, street and progressive club sound. MicMac Records became a leading outlet of freestyle music in the late-80s to the early-90s and their most well-known artists wereJohnny-O andCynthia.[24] MicMac would regularly release output until the middle 2010s.
This was a label run by Schlachter's son, issuing releases from 1999 but stopped releasing titles in the mid-2000s and was later sold. Schlachter assisted in day-to-day backend operations, but not in artistic direction or creative decision making.[2][25]
In 1962, Schlachter married Trudy Weiner, and they had three children.[5][26][27] Trudy is an author having written six books as well as a photographer, taking portraits of Prelude label artists for album covers and other notables in the music industry.[22] As of 2024[update], she is co-president of the Women’s Division at theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine, and a real estate broker.[28]
A house built onLong Island, New York for the family was designed byNorman Jaffe and constructed in 1973.[29]
Schlachter died from intestinal cancer at a hospital in Manhattan, on September 19, 2024, at the age of 90.[5]
Schlachter joins Janus after nine years with Scepter Records, having served as executive vp. He sold his interest in the label to Scepter.