Jac Holzman is 90 years old today.
Holzman founded Elektra Records in his St. John's College dorm room in 1950 and Nonesuch Records in 1964. He signed such acts as The Doors, Judy Collins, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Josh White, Carly Simon, Harry Chapin, Queen , Love, the Stooges, MC5 and Bread to Elektra.
Holzman served as executive producer for numerous stock sound effect libraries under the Authentic Sound Effects series. In 1970, he merged his music interests with Warner Communications (WCI) and continued his association with the labels.
In 1973, Holzman was appointed senior vice president and chief technologist for WCI. He guided the company into home video and the first interactive cable television system, QUBE.
In 1982, following the death of president and founder Robert Gottschalk, Holzman took charge of Panavision, a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Communications and turned around that financially troubled company around.
In 1986, he formed FirstMedia, an investment firm which acquired Cinema Products Corporation, the maker of the Oscar-winning Steadicam camera stabilization system.
In 1991, through FirstMedia, Holzman acquired the Discovery, Trend and Musicraft jazz labels from the estate of Albert Marx, which was also acquired by Warner Music Group in 1993.
Holzman is the father of Adam Holzman, a jazz-rock keyboardist who has played with Miles Davis; Jaclyn Easton, a writer and Internet entrepreneur; and Marin Sander-Holzman, an editor and filmmaker.
Holzman was inducted into the non-performer category of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, March 14, 2011.
In April, 2016, Steve Cooper, CEO of Warner Music Group, announced that Holzman is now Senior Technology Advisor to WMG. He’s “a wide-ranging technology ‘scout’, exploring new digital developments and identifying possible partners,” Cooper said.
In June 2018, Holzman launched a new venture named Cosmic Ringtones & Sonic Realms… Your Universe Is Calling. Curated and produced by Holzman, the collection includes a series of instrumental pieces composed, performed and recorded by his son Adam. The album was released on Holzman’s FM Group Music label, distributed by ADA.
Photo above of Holzman by Martin Dam Kristensen