IRWIN STEINBERG - Mercury Records Co-Founder Who Signed BTO, RUSH Passes
January 5, 2015, 9 years ago
According to Fyimusicnews, legendary Mercury Records co-founder Irwin Steinberg died peacefully at his home in Vermont on December 29th. He was 94.
In May of 1973, Mercury released Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s self-titled debut album after Steinberg and label A&R; VP Charlie Fach flew to Edmonton to discuss a deal with Randy Bachman in his post Guess Who days and after Brave Belt had faltered. In December of that year, Mercury released Bachman-Turner Overdrive 11, a huge hit on both sides of the border including the hits "Let it Ride" and "Takin' Care Of Business," the latter of which had been written by Randy Bachman years before for the Guess Who but it was rejected by his bandmates.
Spurred by the success of the Canadian band, a year later Steinberg and Fach jumped at the opportunity to sign Rush, releasing the band’s initial self-titled album released by Moon Records in Canada.
Mercury was eventually acquired by Polydor Records and Steinberg was appointed president of Polygram USA following a series of mergers in 1975 and became CEO of Polygram Records in 1980 when the company split its film and recording operations.
Steinberg is survived by his wife, Dominique Moyse, three children, four grandchildren and two sisters.
