Overview
Steve Brodie (c.1927 – March 15, 2004) was an American record label owner and founder who was very active during the 1960s and 1970s. He owned or co-owned Thunderbird Records, Sahara Records, Forever Music and various others. He also produced recordings for artists.
Background
Part of Brodie's history in the music business includes his work as a promoter. He played a big part in helping "Tragedy" become a hit for Thomas Wayne.
During the 1960s, he headed Master's Releasing Corp. His promotion and production work included making "Wild Weekend" for The Rockin' Rebels a hit. In distribution he was co-owner of Best Record Distributors and Gold Record Distributors. He was also co-owner of Transcontinent Record Sales and Amherst Records. Along with Leonard Silver, he opened a chain of music stores, Record Theater. The record labels he owned included Thunderbird Records.
Career
1960s to 1970s
In 1959, Brodie was hired by Scotty Moore as their national promotion man to push Thomas Wayne's song "Tragedy". Brodie said that he could make the song a big hit. Working with Robert Buckalew who was an attorney from Memphis, they persuaded record pressing plants to give them 60 days credit to allow time for royalties to come in. Brodie started off working Buffalo which was his home town. The record started climbing the charts there. Brodie then turned his attention to focus on the bigger markets. By March it was at #8 on the National charts at a million seller. Brodie was paid a nickel per record.
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