Don Kirshner
Encyclopedia
Don Kirshner known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American
song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees
, Kansas
and The Archies
.
(classmate of Bobby Darin
), and Upsala College
in East Orange, New Jersey.
with partner Al Nevins
, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building
" school, including Carole King
, Gerry Goffin
, Neil Sedaka
, Howard Greenfield
, Barry Mann
, Cynthia Weil
and Jack Keller
.
As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was influential in starting off the career of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin
, (with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop ditties, their first was called "Bubblegum Pop"), Neil Diamond
, Carole King
, and Sarah Dash
of Labelle
, as well as discovering the occasional rock act such as Kansas
.
. Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label, 1963's "Martian Hop
" by The Ran-Dells
, which reached #16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels, Calendar, which had early hits by The Archies
and the Kirshner label, which had later hits by The Archies
and Kansas
. Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records
, then CBS Records
. He was also involved in Dimension Records
.
Kirshner was hired by the producers of The Monkees
to provide hitworthy songs to accompany the television program, within a demanding schedule. Kirshner quickly corralled songwriting talent from his Brill Building
stable of writers and musicians to create catchy, engaging tracks which the band could pretend to perform on the show.
This move was not because of any lack of Monkee talent — Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork
were already experienced musicians, and Davy Jones
was an established musical performer; but as a working band they had little experience, and Micky Dolenz
was completely new to drums — but to churn out ready-to-go recordings to give each new episode its own song. Each Monkee was retained for vocal duties, but they were not allowed to play on the records.
The formula worked phenomenally well: singles "Last Train to Clarksville
" and "I'm a Believer
"; the first two Monkees albums were produced and released in time to catch the initial wave of the television program's popularity. Future Taj Mahal
and John Lennon
guitarist Jesse Ed Davis
sat in on guitar. After a year, the Monkees wanted another chance to all play their own instruments on the records. They also wanted additional oversight into which songs would be released as singles. Further, when word belatedly came out that the band had not played on the first season's songs, a controversy arose, and the public expressed a desire to hear the television stars perform their own music.
The matter reached a breaking point over a disagreement regarding the Neil Diamond
-penned "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
" in early 1967. The song, released by Kirshner as a single without Columbia Pictures' consent, led to his dismissal. The initial B-side was replaced with a Nesmith song, performed by the Monkees, and they performed on the next year's recordings, featured in the show's second season. Monkees record sales dropped by nearly half after Kirshner's departure.
Kirshner's later venture was The Archies
, an animated series where there were only the studio musicians to be managed.
to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new "In Concert" series, which aired every other week in the 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show
. The following September, Kirshner left "In Concert" to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
. With its long-form live performances, as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig!
, it was a new direction for pop music presentation. The last show aired in 1981, the year that MTV
was launched.
The program presented many of the most successful rock bands of the era, but what was consistent week-to-week was Kirshner's deliberately flat delivery as the program host. In its final season Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was the same as their father's.
Kirshner's wooden presentation style was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live
by Paul Shaffer
, most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top
, which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear
, and in which Shaffer starred.
In the Blue Öyster Cult
song "The Marshall Plan", from the album Cultösaurus Erectus
, Don Kirshner's voice is sampled to introduce the fictitious Johnny: "This is Don Kirshner. And tonight on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a new phenomenon in the music world — with six million albums to his credit in just two short years, my good friend, here's Johnny!"
Abe Olman Publishing Award. He was a creative consultant for Rockrena, a company founded by Jack Wishna
, launching in 2011, to promote new music talent online. He died of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida
hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, his two sons and five grandchildren.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
and The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
.
Early life
Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor, and Belle Jaffe in The Bronx, New York. He attended the Bronx High School of ScienceBronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
(classmate of Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
), and Upsala College
Upsala College
Upsala College was a private college in East Orange, New Jersey, USA, founded in 1893. Construction of the campus started in 1900. The college closed in 1995, after several years of financial problems.-History:...
in East Orange, New Jersey.
Aldon Music
Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon MusicAldon Music
Aldon Music was a New York-based music publishing company, founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in 1958. Aldon is regarded as having played a significant role in shaping the so-called "Brill Building Sound" in the late 1950s and 1960s....
with partner Al Nevins
Al Nevins
Al Nevins, born Albert Tepper , was a renowned musician, producer, arranger, guitarist and violinist. He was also member of a pop trio called the Three Suns and is considered one of the major forces behind the evolution of the 1950s music into the early 1960s pop/rock music.-The Three Suns:Al...
, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
" school, including Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
, Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka
Neil Sedaka is an American pop/rock singer, pianist, and composer. His career has spanned nearly 55 years, during which time he has sold millions of records as an artist and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collaborating mostly with lyricists Howard...
, Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...
, Barry Mann
Barry Mann
Barry Mann is an American songwriter, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil.-Career:...
, Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil is a prominent American songwriter. She is famous for having written many songs together with her husband Barry Mann....
and Jack Keller
Jack Keller (songwriter)
Jack Keller A legend in his own right, Jack Keller wrote hit songs in every genre of music over a period of nearly 40 years with success in New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville....
.
As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was influential in starting off the career of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, (with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop ditties, their first was called "Bubblegum Pop"), Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
, and Sarah Dash
Sarah Dash
Sarah Dash is a singer and actress. Her first notable appearance on the music scene was as a member of Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles...
of Labelle
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
, as well as discovering the occasional rock act such as Kansas
Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
.
Don Kirshner's record labels
Kirshner also had three record labels. The first was Chairman Records, a subsidiary of London RecordsLondon Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
. Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label, 1963's "Martian Hop
Martian Hop
"Martian Hop" is a song written by the Ran-Dells which was released in 1963. It has been described as a one-hit wonder novelty song and it reached #27 on the black singles chart and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was later covered by Rocky Sharpe and the Replays.-Cultural...
" by The Ran-Dells
The Ran-Dells
The Ran-Dells were an American musical ensemble from Villas, New Jersey. In 1963 their song "Martian Hop" peaked at #27 on the US Billboard black singles chart, and at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100...
, which reached #16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels, Calendar, which had early hits by The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
and the Kirshner label, which had later hits by The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
and Kansas
Kansas (band)
Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...
. Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, then CBS Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. He was also involved in Dimension Records
Dimension Records
Dimension Records was a record label founded in 1962 in New York City by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins, owners of Aldon Music. It concentrated on the girl group sound and showcased songs by Goffin and King. Their composition "The Loco-Motion", sung by Little Eva, gave it its biggest hit...
.
The Monkees
In the early 1960s, Kirshner was a successful music publisher as head of his own company, Aldon Music, with Al Nevins, bringing performers such as Bobby Darin together with songwriters and musicians.Kirshner was hired by the producers of The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
to provide hitworthy songs to accompany the television program, within a demanding schedule. Kirshner quickly corralled songwriting talent from his Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
stable of writers and musicians to create catchy, engaging tracks which the band could pretend to perform on the show.
This move was not because of any lack of Monkee talent — Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork
Peter Tork
Peter Tork is an American musician and actor, best known as a member of The Monkees.-Early life:Tork was born Peter Halsten Thorkelson in Washington, D.C.. Although he was born in 1942, many news articles report him as born in 1944 in New York City as this was the date and place given on early...
were already experienced musicians, and Davy Jones
Davy Jones
Davy Jones may refer to:People:*Davy Jones , English actor and singer, formerly of the band The Monkees*Davy Jones , American*Davy Jones , American baseball player...
was an established musical performer; but as a working band they had little experience, and Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz
George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...
was completely new to drums — but to churn out ready-to-go recordings to give each new episode its own song. Each Monkee was retained for vocal duties, but they were not allowed to play on the records.
The formula worked phenomenally well: singles "Last Train to Clarksville
Last Train to Clarksville
"Last Train to Clarksville" was the debut single by The Monkees, released August 16, 1966, and later included on the group's 1966 self-titled album, that was released on October 10, 1966. The song was recorded at RCA Victor Studio B in Hollywood, on July 25, 1966...
" and "I'm a Believer
I'm a Believer
"I'm a Believer" is a song composed by Neil Diamond and recorded by The Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966 and remained there for seven weeks,...
"; the first two Monkees albums were produced and released in time to catch the initial wave of the television program's popularity. Future Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
guitarist Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Edwin Davis was an American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist. His death in 1988 is attributed to a drug overdose.-Biography:...
sat in on guitar. After a year, the Monkees wanted another chance to all play their own instruments on the records. They also wanted additional oversight into which songs would be released as singles. Further, when word belatedly came out that the band had not played on the first season's songs, a controversy arose, and the public expressed a desire to hear the television stars perform their own music.
The matter reached a breaking point over a disagreement regarding the Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
-penned "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
"A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" is a song by Neil Diamond that was released by The Monkees in 1967 . Davy Jones sang the lead vocal . It went to #1 in the US Cashbox charts and #2 on the Billboard charts...
" in early 1967. The song, released by Kirshner as a single without Columbia Pictures' consent, led to his dismissal. The initial B-side was replaced with a Nesmith song, performed by the Monkees, and they performed on the next year's recordings, featured in the show's second season. Monkees record sales dropped by nearly half after Kirshner's departure.
Kirshner's later venture was The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
, an animated series where there were only the studio musicians to be managed.
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
In the fall of 1972, Kirshner was asked by ABC TelevisionABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new "In Concert" series, which aired every other week in the 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks, including:* ABC daytime ...
. The following September, Kirshner left "In Concert" to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert is a television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations...
. With its long-form live performances, as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
, it was a new direction for pop music presentation. The last show aired in 1981, the year that MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
was launched.
The program presented many of the most successful rock bands of the era, but what was consistent week-to-week was Kirshner's deliberately flat delivery as the program host. In its final season Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was the same as their father's.
Kirshner's wooden presentation style was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
by Paul Shaffer
Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
, most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top
A Year at the Top
A Year at the Top is an American sitcom which aired for five episodes on CBS in 1977. Produced by T.A.T. Communications Company, the series was created by Heywood Kling and co-executive produced by Don Kirshner and Norman Lear.-Synopsis:...
, which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
, and in which Shaffer starred.
In the Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
song "The Marshall Plan", from the album Cultösaurus Erectus
Cultösaurus Erectus
Cultösaurus Erectus is the seventh Blue Öyster Cult album released in 1980. Following the experiment with Mirrors, it was an attempt to return to the band's earlier hard-rock sound...
, Don Kirshner's voice is sampled to introduce the fictitious Johnny: "This is Don Kirshner. And tonight on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a new phenomenon in the music world — with six million albums to his credit in just two short years, my good friend, here's Johnny!"
Later career
Kirshner received the 2007 Songwriters Hall of FameSongwriters Hall of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The goal is to create a museum but as of April, 2008, the means do not yet exist and so instead it is an online...
Abe Olman Publishing Award. He was a creative consultant for Rockrena, a company founded by Jack Wishna
Jack Wishna
Jack Wishna is president and CEO of CPAmerica, a consulting firm for gambling, hotel and leisure organizations, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also a founder of Rockrena Inc. which launched rockcityclub.com, a Social Music Network,...
, launching in 2011, to promote new music talent online. He died of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...
hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, his two sons and five grandchildren.
External links
- IMDb: Don Kirshner Productions Company profile
- "Return of The Hit Man: On Music Legend Don Kirshner's To-Do List: Become Global Mogul". David Segal. The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. December 20, 2004. - "Don Kirshner and Aldon Music". History of Rock
- Don Kirshner Official Website