Jerome H. Remick
Jerome H. Remick | |
---|---|
Born | Jerome Hosmer Remick November 15, 1867 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
Died | July 15, 1931 |
Resting place | Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit |
Spouse | Adelaide McCreery |
Children | Katherine Remick Jerome Hosmer Remick Jr. James Albert Remick II |
Parent(s) | James Albert Remick Mary Amelia Hosmer |
Jerome Hosmer Remick (15 November 1867 – 15 July 1931) was an American music publisher, businessman and philanthropist in Detroit, Michigan. He established Remick Music Company, Shapiro-Remick & Company with Maurice Shapiro, and then Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Life and career
Remick was born in Detroit as the son of James Albert Remick and Mary Amelia Hosmer.[1] He graduated from the Detroit Business University in 1887 before joining the Whitney-Remick lumber firm, a family business started by his grandfather, Royal C. Remick. On June 26, 1895, Remick married Adelaide McCreery in Flint, Michigan.
Remick's interests, however, did not lie in lumber but in the developing popular sheet music industry. In 1898, he bought out the small, struggling firm of Whitney-Warner Publishing Company in Detroit, whose small catalog included Smoky Topaz (comp. Grace M. Bolen) and waltzes by Henriette B. Blanke. He turned the company into an extraordinarily successful sheet music publishing house.
In 1902, Remick and Maurice Shapiro founded Shapiro-Remick & Company, selling several million copies in 1905 of the enormously successful "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", written by Harry Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne. The partnership was dissolved in 1906, and Remick started his own firm (known as Jerome H. Remick & Co.). Van Alstyne continued with Remick and a string of hits followed, including "Pretty Baby" and "Your Eyes have Told Me So."
Remick's published songs influenced popular music trends and included hundreds of hits, such as "Baby Face", "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover," "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" and "Bye Bye Blackbird," all of which contributed greatly to American heritage and culture.
In 1909, the company published three ballads that sold more than a million copies – "
While competing publishing houses were located in Michigan, New York City and Chicago, Jerome H. Remick & Co. held sway in Detroit, also running a successful printing plant from there. The firm maintained branch offices in New York City and Chicago, with agencies all over the world, and started hundreds of music outlets under the name "Remick Song Shops" throughout the United States. Oddly, Remick could not read music at all, but he had a natural understanding of public tastes.
Remick was an enthusiastic
He was one of the influential patrons of the
Remick also served as director on the boards of the pharmaceutical firm
In 1928, because of ill health, Remick sold the company to his Vice-President, Jerome Keit. The new firm was called The Remick Corporation, and it was finally taken over by Warner Bros. Music. Remick died on July 15, 1931, at the age of 63, and is buried along with his wife at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan. Remick was survived by his wife, his children and several grandchildren.[2]
Gallery
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Sheet music cover for "Oh, You Beautiful Doll"
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Sheet music cover for "Cleopatra Finnegan – an Afro-Celtic intermezzo"
See also
- General Aeroplane Company (Remick was an investor)
- Jerome H. Remick and Company Building
References
Notes
- ^ Clarence Monroe Burton. Compendium of History and Biography of the City of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan (Chicago: Henry Taylor & Co., 1909), pp. 514–516.
- ^ "Band Shell Project blog". Archived from the original on 2009-01-15. Retrieved 2009-02-27.