Southern rock would possibly by no means have came about with out Otis Redding. Within the early 60s, Otis persuaded his supervisor/reserving agent Phil Walden to desert his collegiate pre-law research for a occupation in soul song. Inside a couple of years Walden used to be dealing with R&B stars akin to Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge and Clarence Carter, and reducing offers at Stax and Atlantic Data.
However Redding’s loss of life in 1967 left Walden unsure in regards to the long run. He later mentioned: “After Otis, black song simply didn’t appear the similar for me. I had attempted sooner than to get some rock’n’roll purchasers, and now I used to be hell-bent on proving I may just get a hold of some rock teams and get started one thing new.”
In 1969, with monetary lend a hand from Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler and Frank Fenton, Walden and his brother Alan based a label, Capricorn Data (the identify got here from Walden’s astrological signal).
One of the vital first musicians to snatch Phil’s consideration used to be Duane Allman, a budding consultation guitarist operating in Muscle Shoals studios. Walden inspired Duane to shape a band, and inside of a yr the Allman Brothers Band was Capricorn’s cornerstone act. The label introduced Marshall Tucker Band, Rainy Willie and Elvin Bishop on board, and used to be quickly racking up gold information and chart hits. By way of 1974, 34-year-old Walden’s estimated web price used to be $5 million.
The bounty persevered for 2 extra years. Then crisis struck when the Allmans cut up, the individuals sued Capricorn for unpaid royalties, and the label’s distribution care for Polygram fell aside. All of this spread out towards Walden’s worsening substance abuse issues. In 1979 Capricorn went bankrupt.
After a misplaced decade, Walden wiped clean up and relaunched Capricorn, in Nashville in 1991. He nonetheless had an ear for younger ability, and signed bands akin to Cake, 311 and Well-liked Panic. However after a promising get started that noticed Walden regain rights to his again catalogue from the 70s, the label as soon as once more hit monetary hassle. After distributor Polygram merged with Common, Capricorn were given misplaced within the shuffle. It folded in 2000.
Walden died in 2006, after an extended fight with most cancers. As Gregg Allman mentioned: “Phil used to be there at first, and shall we now not have achieved what we’ve got with out him.”
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