Promotion and A&R Exec Dies at 70

Marc Nathan, the promotion and A&R govt who in his 55-year profession helped Barenaked Women, 3 Doorways Down and extra get report offers, has died. He was 70.

He handed away earlier this week at Vanderbilt Medical Heart in Nashville, a consultant says. An announcement mentioned Nathan had “been sick for a while and he lastly succumbed to quite a lot of afflictions.”

Nathan received his foot within the door within the music trade at simply 15 years previous, when the then-Queens, New York, child wrote a letter to Todd Rundgren and obtained a reply from Ampex Information’ Paul Fishkin, with regard to a observe itemizing anomaly he discovered on Rundgren’s Runt album.

“He simply so occurred to open a stack of Todd’s fan mail that day. If he hadn’t opened that stack of mail that day, you realize … My life would have been altered without end,” Nathan mentioned in an interview in 2019.

Nathan quickly landed his first trade job in radio promotion at Ampex, which led to him constructing a profession with roles in promotion at labels together with Bearsville, Casablanca, Playboy, Sire and Atlantic.

“I misplaced my finest good friend of 55 years,” Fishkin famous following his loss of life. “Marc Nathan walked like he talked in addition to anybody I’ve ever identified. His irascible, acquired style persona was what I loved essentially the most, regardless that maddening at occasions. We had a lot in widespread chiding and deriding phonies and pretentious fools in sports activities, politics, however most significantly, the music enterprise. We sometimes loved busting one another as effectively. We delighted in having our personal typically hilarious shorthand placing us on the ground at occasions with uncontrollable laughter. He was a terrific report man, and a baseball and hockey chronicler supreme, amongst his many skills and passions. And sure, I’ve tales! However most essential was his loyalty and help for all the correct folks and points. And he by no means let me down in all these 55 years.”

Over time — with stints in New York, Los Angeles and, most just lately, Nashville — Nathan additionally labored in A&R, having a hand in Common’s acquisition of Money Cash Information, and in expertise improvement for Common, Capitol, Atlantic/ATCO and imprints.

Among the many artists he received signed have been the bands 3 Doorways Down (at Common) and Barenaked Women (at Sire). He later established a label, Flagship Information, to launch solo work from Barenaked Women co-founder Steven Web page.

“Marc was a report particular person of the best order,” Web page wrote following his loss of life. “He was completely and passionately obsessive about music and amassed an encyclopedic reminiscence for songs, charts and artists. He performed an enormous position in my profession and in my life — a job that arced throughout our whole shared timeline. Marc was a man who liked large, emotional music and likewise too-smart-for-its-own-good pop and had an enormous smooth spot for foolish novelty songs too. We form of match the invoice completely for him and he received us. Marc took our demo tape to Seymour Stein at Sire information, and, fortunately, Seymour received it. Whereas everybody else was calling us a throwaway, Seymour checked out Marc and mentioned, ‘They’re a Simon and Garfunkel for the ‘90s.’ Marc was at all times particularly happy with his involvement, and I’m eternally grateful to him for it.”

Web page added, “He was among the many first and most persistent of my mates to lend me help, recommendation and solidarity. He might be a nudge, however that’s solely as a result of he had an enormous coronary heart and he actually, actually cared. There have been many, many individuals in his life that he would counsel and coach and cajole and mentor via their darkest hours — he’d been there and again a number of occasions himself — and I’m proud and grateful to be a type of mates. I’m fortunate to have identified him.”