|
Bill Bentley (born 1950, Houston, Texas, United States)〔Margaret Moser, (Back Door Man: The Man Behind ''More Oar'', Bill Bentley ). Austin Chronicle, December 17, 1999; www.austinchronicle.com.〕 is an American music industry executive, particularly notable for having produced tribute albums of the music of significant cult artists Roky Erickson (1990) and Skip Spence (1999), in addition to other projects, such as being the co-producer of a tribute album to noted Texas and international artist Doug Sahm (2009). ==History== Bill Bentley was born in Houston, Texas in 1950 and attended Lamar High School. He commenced playing drums at an early age. His music career started at the age of fifteen, when he interned at the KYOK-AM〔Currently a gospel music station, known as "AMen Radio"; see KYOK.〕 radio station in Houston.〔 While in high school, he formed a band called The Aggregation, the local rivals of which were The Coachmen, from neighbouring Lee High School and featuring guitarist Billy Gibbons, later of ZZ Top.〔 Bentley grew up in the newspaper business; his father, Bud Bentley, was a cartoonist and later the art director at the ''Houston Post''.〔〔Albert Franklin Bentley III, professionally known as "Bud" Bentley (1913-2006) spent nearly forty years at the ''Houston Post'', retiring in 1983. He was a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and a founding member of the Press Club of Houston. See (Obituary of Albert Franklin Bentley III ), originally published December 28, 2006 in the ''Houston Chronicle'', as reprinted in "Toasted Posties: Former Employees of the ''Houston Post'', which died a cruel death in April of 1995"; www.toastedposties.blogspot.com.〕 Bentley attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas and later the University of Texas at Austin, where he joined a band of English majors called The Bizarros. The band was notable for including Velvet Underground founding member Sterling Morrison.〔〔At the time, Morrison was a doctoral student in medieval studies. His last engagement with the Velvet Underground was in 1971 in Houston, after which Morrison accompanied the band to the airport and advised them, as they were departing, that he was leaving the band permanently and remaining in Houston. See Sterling Morrison.〕 Bentley had also developed an admiration for the 13th Floor Elevators during the Sixties, following the band extensively to dozens of Houston concerts starting at La Maison in 1965 on through to their last performances at Love Street Light Circus and Feel Good Machine in 1968. Bentley had developed typesetting skills, and was able to use these as an entry to a position in 1974 as the music editor at the ''Austin Sun'' bi-weekly newspaper.〔 In 1978, he became the music editor at the ''L.A. Weekly'', being one of six people forming the core of the first editorial staff at that paper.〔(''L.A. Weekly'' Founder Jay Levin on the vision that started it all ). ''L.A. Weekly'', December 4, 2008; www.laweekly.com.〕 Entering the record business, Bentley became the Director of Publicity at Slash Records and rose to become a Senior Vice President of media relations at Warner Bros. Records. In his role as a publicist, he has worked with such artists as Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, The Blasters, Green Day, X, Lou Reed, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and R.E.M.. As a record company executive, he has provided guidance to the careers of such artists as Doug Sahm, ZZ Top and Wilco.〔 In addition, throughout a career in music that spans over forty years, he has been a writer of liner notes to numerous record releases.〔(Bill Bentley Recording Credit Profile ); www.allmusic.com.〕〔 In 1990, upon learning of the financial distress of Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators, Bentley organized a tribute album for him, for the purpose of raising funds. The result was ''Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson'', released on Sire Records, part of the Warner Bros. Records group with which Bentley was then associated. Similarly, in 1999, when Bentley learned that Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence was seriously ill with cancer and facing mounting medical bills, Bentley again organized a tribute album: ''More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album'', released on Birdman Records.〔Founded by former Warner Bros. Records A&R Vice-President David Katznelson, who also acted as Executive Producer of the Spence tribute. Katznelson and Bentley had worked together at Warner Bros. Records, with Katznelson departing in 2000 and Bentley in 2006. Katznelson and Bentley worked together on various projects, including the 2009 tribute to Doug Sahm, ''Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm'', where both acted as two of four co-producers. In addition, the Sahm tribute was released on Vanguard Records, which Bentley had recently joined as A&R Director and where fellow co-producer Stephen Brower was Vice-President of Marketing and A&R Development.〕 In 1992, Bentley was instrumental in restarting the career of Jimmy Scott, acting as Executive Producer and writing the liner notes for Scott's comeback album, ''All The Way'', which was also released on Sire Records. Bentley is also notable for his efforts to enhance public appreciation of the contributions of particular artists. For example, he is the executive producer of a retrospective Roky Erickson compilation, ''I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology'' (Shout! Factory, 2005)〔According to reviewer Mark Deming, "Erickson's body of recorded work has long merited an intelligently assembled critical overview, and thankfully Bill Bentley, a longtime Erickson partisan who assembled the 1990 multi-artist compilation ''Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson'', has created just such an album with ''I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology''. See Mark Deming, (Review of ''I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology'' ); www.allmusic.com.〕 and a tribute album to Doug Sahm, ''Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm'' (Vanguard, 2009), recorded and released nearly ten years after Sahm's death. Similarly, Bentley was associated with the 1992 compilation of O.V. Wright material, ''Soul of O.V. Wright'', released twelve years after Wright's untimely death, at the age of forty-one.〔 Bentley was with Warner Bros. Records from 1986 to 2006, at which point he became the personal public relations representative of Neil Young,〔See, for example, (Neil Young Chrome Dreams Continental Tour Begins October 18 ). News Release, September 10, 2007; www.marketwire.com. Bentley is listed as the contact person, via Lookout Management.〕 as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Sonic Boomers Inc.,〔''Sgt. Fitch: The Legacy of Sarg Records'', (Biography of Bill Bentley ). Press kit; www.sgt-fitch.com.〕 an internet-based music news and information site, modeled "as something like Pitchfork Media for the older set, or maybe something like ''No Depression'' on the Web."〔John Nova Lomax, (Bill Bentley goes online with Sonic Boomers ). Houston Press, June 19, 2008; www.houstonpress.com.〕〔(Bill Bentley Linkedin Profile ); www.linkedin.com; retrieved 10-07-08.〕 He also became the A & R Director at Vanguard Records, where his first signing was Merle Haggard.〔SXSW, (Bill Bentley Profile ), "Making Something Outta Nothing" session, SXSW, March 19, 2010; www.sxsw.com. Haggard's debut on Vanguard became his highest-charting record in twenty-five years: see Deborah Evans Price, (Merle Haggard scores highest solo bow in 25 years ). Reuters, May 7, 2010; www.reuters.com. When Concord Music Group purchased Vanguard Records, Bentley became senior director of A&R at Concord. 〕 Bentley remains a longtime contributor of music reviews and music articles to the ''Austin Chronicle''.〔See, for example, ("Beacon Blues: Jimmie Vaughan's lifelong song" ). ''Austin Chronicle'', July 16, 2010; www.austinchronicle.com.〕 and writes the weekly reviews column Bentley's Bandstand at www.themortonreport.com. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bill Bentley (record producer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|