Howie Richmond

Howard Spencer "Howie" Richmond (18 January 1918 — 20 May 2012) was an American music publisher and music industry executive. He established The Richmond Organization, Inc. (TRO), one of the largest independent music publishing organizations in the world, and had a hand in commercialising and promoting many pop, folk and rock songs since the 1940s.

Life and career

Richmond was born in Queens, New York. He attended the Loomis Chaffee School from 1931 to 1935, graduating in 1935, and thereafter, the University of Pennsylvania. He began working in the music business in 1935, soon establishing his own press office in New York City to publicize clients who included Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, the Andrews Sisters, and Woody Herman. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps, before helping Buddy Robbins to establish the Robbins Artist Bureau, later known as the American Artists Bureau. In 1949, Richmond set up his first music publishing business, Cromwell Music, with the help of Al Brackman and Abe Olman, and soon had a hit with "Hop-Scotch Polka" by Guy Lombardo. This was quickly followed by the no. 1 "Music! Music! Music!", written by Stephan Weiss and Bernie Baum and recorded by Teresa Brewer. Richmond rapidly expanded and restructured the firm, under the umbrella name of The Richmond Organization, successfully attracting writers providing songs and record producers looking to find them.