Obituaries

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Former head of recording-music giant EMI


Menon started his career with the British music record and publishing company, EMI, in 1956 after graduating from university. He moved over to EMI's Indian subsidiary Gramophone Company of India in 1957 and went on to become its chairman in 1969.[6] He would work with the group for 34 years in various positions.[6]
As its first chairman and CEO, Menon formed EMI Music Worldwide in 1978, which brought together under his unified global management all of EMI Group's records and music publishing interests throughout the world. Among the world's foremost companies in the entertainment business, the multibillion-dollar EMI Music Group headquartered in London has operations in over 46 countries.

When Thorn Electrical Industries and EMI joined together to form Thorn EMI, one of the world's largest companies in their respective businesses, Menon was appointed Director of the parent Board of the merged company at its inception in December 1979. He remained Chairman of EMI Music Worldwide and a Director of the Thorn EMI plc Board until he retired from the Group in 1990.

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Menon (right) with [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney]Paul (center) and Linda McCartney in 1976

During his many years in the international music business, Menon was closely associated with the careers of a number of outstanding popular artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, Jack Jersey, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Anne Murray, Peggy Lee, Paul McCartney & Wings, Duran Duran, Nancy Wilson, Iron Maiden, Diana Ross, Bob Seger, Carole King, and Steve Miller. He also worked with classical performers like Yehudi Menuhin, Herbert von Karajan, Maria Callas, Ricardo Muti, Itzhak Perlman, and Daniel Barenboim. In his recent memoirs, Duran Duran's Andy Taylor noted, "We decided to go with EMI, because we knew they had a global network and could launch bands across America. The company was headed by the legendary music industry figure, Bhaskar Menon, who'd presided over EMI during the rise of the Beatles." (Andy Taylor, quoted in Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran)

As Chairman of EMI India, Menon was involved in the careers of that country's leading film, popular and classical singers and musicians. During his Chairmanship of EMI Films Inc, the company produced such masterpieces as the multi-Oscar-winning Deer Hunter, Murder on the Orient Express, and Passage to India.

In 1973, Menon played the central role in leading the promotion and marketing of Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side of the Moon. He put the power of Capitol/EMI behind the band with a tremendous marketing, PR and advertising effort led by Capitol's vice president Al Coury. The album which has been called "the most technically advanced recording of its time" was hailed as a unique blend of studio wizardry and outstanding musical innovation. As such it might have achieved some success without Menon's support, but Pink Floyd's sales in the US had been modest up to that point, and the promotion efforts of Al Coury certainly encouraged success internationally. In the UK, Pink Floyd had blocked the release of singles. Menon pushed for the songs, "Us and Them" and "Time" to be edited and released as singles for American radio. The Dark Side of the Moon spent 950 weeks on the USA-based Billboard 200 album chart, the longest duration of any album in history. It is also the fourth highest selling album globally of all time, selling more than forty million units. Menon was featured in the documentary "The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon."

Menon’s contributions to the Dark Side of the Moon album’s success were recognized and when asked in an interview whether he was surprised at the results of his efforts he was quoted as saying, "I always believed that the record would be very, very successful. It was gratifying, but not surprising."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaskar_Menon