Goddard Lieberson

Goddard Lieberson
Goddard circa 1950
Born	(1911-04-05)April 5, 1911 Hanley, Staffordshire, England, UK
Died	Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Years active	1949-1977
Spouse(s)	Vera Zorina (m. 1946–77) (his death) (2 children)
Children	Peter Lieberson Jonathan Lieberson

Goddard Lieberson (April 5, 1911 – May 29, 1977) was the president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971, and again from 1973 to 1975. He became president of the Recording Industry Association of America in 1964. He was also a composer, and studied with George Frederick McKay, at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Biography

He was born on April 5, 1911, in Hanley in Staffordshire and brought to the United States as a child. He was married to actress/dancer Vera Zorina from 1946 until his death in 1977. They had two sons: Peter Lieberson, a composer, and Jonathan Lieberson.

Before becoming president of the company, Lieberson was responsible for Columbia's introduction of the long-playing record. The LP was particularly well-suited to Columbia's long-established classical repertoire, as recorded by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Artur Rodziński, Dmitri Mitropoulos, and Leonard Bernstein.

He was promoted to president of Columbia Records from 1956 to 1971 and again from 1973 to 1975. In 1966, in a reorganization, Columbia Records became subsidiary to the newly formed CBS/Columbia Group. In 1967, Lieberson promoted Clive Davis to president of Columbia Records.

He died of cancer in New York City on May 29, 1977, aged 66.

Lieberson was the grandfather of sisters Elizabeth (Lizzie), Katherine, and Kristina, who are now members of the band TEEN.

Cast recordings

His greatest legacy, however, was probably the original cast recordings he produced. Columbia was not the first to offer such recordings; Musicraft's 1938 recording of The Cradle Will Rock was the first (not Decca's 1943 recording of Oklahoma! as is often erroneously stated). Lieberson's recordings at Columbia, however, were influential.

In addition to documenting the musical performances of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Lieberson also produced notable studio cast recordings of musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Pal Joey and The Boys from Syracuse, for which cast albums had not been made.

Though vinyl fans might consider Lieberson’s greatest legacy his being responsible for the introduction of the LP record, most observers consider his Broadway show production as his singular achievement.

Though other labels had issued Broadway shows on LP (Decca issued “Guys and Dolls” in 1950) Lieberson’s extensive coverage of Broadway mainstreamed and popularized original cast recordings.

In fact, Lieberson provided the $375,000 needed to produce the stage production of “My Fair Lady”, considered to be among the greatest shows ever, in exchange for the rights to release on Columbia the original cast recording.

The investment paid off both on stage and at the record store. The original cast recording (in mono only), starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison, topped the Billboard 200 charts for 15 weeks between 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959. A stereo recording produced in England with Andrews and Harrison was issued in 1959.

See also

• Broadway theatre
• Cast recording
• List of musicals
• Musical theatre

Positions

Preceded by	President of Columbia Records/CBS Records 1956 to 1971	Succeeded by Clive Davis
Preceded by	President of RIAA 1964 to 1977	Succeeded by
Preceded by Clive Davis	President of CBS Records 1973 to 1975	Succeeded by Walter Yetnikoff