Phil Walden

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this article. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Phil Walden" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Phil Walden
Born	January 11, 1940 (1940-01-11) Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Education	Mercer University
Occupation(s)	Record company founder, talent manager

Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006)^[1] was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter.

Biography

Walden received his undergraduate degree in

's manager from 1959 until Redding's death in 1967. While a college student, he began his career as a booking agent and manager for R&B acts, hosting one of Redding's first shows at the University's Phi Delta Theta lodge in the early 1960s.

As he continued to build his business, Walden was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army through a deferred service program in the summer of 1963. He recruited his younger brother, Alan (then a sophomore at Mercer), to run Phil Walden Artists and Promotions and served in Germany as a personnel officer before returning to the company following the completion of his service in 1965. That year, Redding and Phil Walden co-founded the Redwal Music publishing company.

Walden's management of Redding and dozens of notable

.

The Allman Brothers Band were not an instant success, selling just 33,000 copies of their

was produced by Walden).

In spite of the label's notable imprimatur, a later distribution agreement with

Polygram

(contingent on the label's assets as collateral for a multi-million dollar "runway" loan) ended in 1979 when Polygram called in the remaining balance of the loan. After declaring bankruptcy in October 1979, the initial iteration of Capricorn Records folded a year later.

Redding's death in a 1967 plane crash was a huge blow to Walden, who had enjoyed a close friendship with the singer since adolescence. He suffered another devastating loss in 1971, when Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash. Yet Walden soldiered on, creating a small empire in Macon with the label, a recording facility, real estate holdings and other ventures. In 1976, Walden and the Allman Brothers Band played an integral role in financing Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign throughout the primary season. However, as the label entered a fallow period in the late 1970s due to the dissolution of the Allman Brothers Band and the decline of Southern rock as a cultural force, Walden could not acclimate to the ascent of post-punk and new wave music, refusing the opportunity to build relationships with such prospective British signees as Squeeze, Dire Straits and Gang of Four; instead, the latter two groups were signed by Wexler (who had left Atlantic in 1975) to Warner Brothers.

Walden dropped out of sight during the 1980s, struggling with cocaine and alcohol dependencies and other setbacks. When he returned to artist management, his anchor was not a rock band but comic actor Jim Varney, whose "Hey Vern" commercials made him a hillbilly icon and the star of a string of movies. During this period, Walden also met struggling actor/screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton, serving as his manager for several years.

In 1991, Walden relaunched Capricorn in

on December 10, 1992. Several members of the Mississippi state legislature attended the event along with Walden, members of James' family and many others.

In 2000, Walden sold the majority of Capricorn's catalog. In the early 2000s, with the Capricorn name retired, Walden tried his hand with another startup label, Velocette. The entire staff was made up of Waldens, including his son, Philip Jr., daughter, Amantha, and nephew, Jason.

Walden was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1986.

He died of

on April 22, 2006. "Phil was one of the preeminent producers of great music in America," former president Jimmy Carter said in a statement. Walden's work with Redding, the Allmans and others, Carter said, "helped to put Macon and Georgia on the musical map of the world."

References

External links

• Obituary in the
  New York Times
• Obituary in Rolling Stone Magazine