Grammy Award-winning producer Russ Titelman first date Mo Ostin, the legendary executive who ran Reprise and then Warner Records from 1960 to 1994, in the early ’60s when Titelman was still a teenager and freshly signed as a songwriter with Screen Gems-Columbia Music. Eventually, Ostin, who died July 31 at the age of 95, and then head of A&R, convinced Lenny Waronker Titelman to join Warner Records, where he had an exceptional 25-year run as an in-house producer and with artists like Randy Newman , Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Steve Winwood, Chaka Khan and many more.
Titelman, whose Grammy wins include Record of the Year for Winwood’s “Higher Love” (1986) and again for Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven” and Album of the Year for Clapton’s “Unplugged” (1992), spoke to Billboard about his work with Ostin during the glory days of Warner Brothers.
I would visit my friend [producer] Jack Nitzsche at Warner Bros. and met Mo. He invited me to lunch. We went to Chow’s Kosherama on Riverside Drive. It was a deli run by a Chinese couple so there was Chinese food and smoked salmon and corn beef and fortune cookies.
He said to me, “If you ever want to do anything in the record business, the door is open to you here. You’re welcome to come here.” That was probably ’68 or ’69. I brought Little Feat – just Lowell [George] and Billy [Payne] – to Lenny. Just the two. They sang a few songs. He didn’t even hear it [full] Tape. He said go upstairs and make a deal with Mo.
I’ve really become friends with Randy [Newman] and was allowed to hang at his house. Through a series of events, Lenny said, “Come help me make this record,” that was Randy Newman’s live album of The Bitter End, released in 1971. This live record started selling and garnering attention. Lenny took me out to dinner and said, “Come on. That’s ridiculous. Come on staff.” Mo guided me through the contract and made a fair contract for me.
Russ Titelman and Steve Winwood Karen Petersen/Courtesy of WMG
Lenny was my boss and it was him who said let’s do these Newman records and Mo was very open and very generous. He had this philosophy that you hire people who you think are good, who have talent, and then you let them do what they do and you don’t interfere. [He thought,] “No record manager knows what’s going on, it’s the artists who know these things.” He had that philosophy. steveross, [whose Kinney Parking Company bought Warner Bros-Seven Arts in 1969] had the same philosophy. It was a group of leaders who knew talent mattered.
Mo was a creative manager and he didn’t seem to have an ego like other managers. Look where he came from: Sinatra, [Verve Records founder and former Ostin employer] Norman Granz, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. All these great jazz people. So he had to be able to navigate these waters as well.
When Eddie Rosenblatt was asked to be president of Geffen Records [in 1980], which meant he left Warner Bros. as sales and advertising manager. And Mo took him as a gift on a trip to Europe since he was leaving. He invited me and my wife Carol to this trip. We went to Switzerland. We went to Rome. quincy [Jones] accompanied us on the journey. While we were in Rome or Positano, Mo went to England and signed Eric Clapton. And then he came back to us.
Mo just had this presence. He signed Hendrix and Joni Mitchell and Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. He never went to the studio. He didn’t want to be in the spotlight at all. And people were attracted to him because he was open and honest. And he knew what he was doing.
He was greatly respected by everyone who came into contact with him. I think it’s partly because he doesn’t show off. He didn’t think it was important to put himself in his place. His job was to do his job and stay out of his way.
he trusted you Everyone who was in this company had this philosophy. I made a few bricks and spent a lot of money on a few records that didn’t work. I made a record with [an artist] that cost so much money. Nobody ever said a peep to me. He never tried to tell you what to do. He completely stayed out of it.
He had amazing taste. He believed in them [artists]. Lenny had Randy: That stuff didn’t sell until a little later. [Ry] Cooder’s records didn’t sell that often, but every other artist in the world thought these guys were the greatest.
The world has changed. I was fortunate to be part of the studio system. I got to work with my favorite artists on Earth. This studio system that has nurtured me and others [as in-house producers]like Lenny and Teddy [Templeman], no longer exists. There was competition, you know, but it was camaraderie. It was a friendly competition.
I learned from Mo to stay true to yourself and make the music you love. That’s the legacy.
Lenny said something about him: He said he was just way ahead of everyone else. He was. He was just super smart. Maybe he was kind of a father figure to Lenny. I think maybe he was that way for all of us, you know? Just like, “The chief goes this way. Let’s go.”
As told by Melinda Newman