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Madhur Jaffrey: I learned about Michelle through my granddaughter. I read her book [“Crying in H Mart,” 2021] and listened to her music, and I thought she seemed like me. Our relationships to our mothers are in many ways similar — when she said in her book that her mother used to watch QVC and buy face creams, I thought of my own mother, who would have my sisters and me rub the cow’s milk from our own cows into our faces because she heard that Cleopatra bathed in the milk of an ass for her milky complexion. Our fathers were similar, too: Michelle’s father never took her music seriously, which reminded me of my father, who told the president of India that acting was just my hobby.culture banner More
“Hit Me Hard and Soft,” her third album, is both concise and far-reaching.“Twenty-one took a lifetime,” Billie Eilish, 22, sings in “Skinny,” the song that opens her third album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”Any woman her age could say that; it’s just math. But even before she was old enough to vote, Eilish had packed a lifetime of accomplishments into a career that she began in 2015 as a teenager uploading songs to SoundCloud. Since then, Eilish has racked up billions of streams, an armload of Grammy Awards, two Oscars and a full-length documentary. On “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” she deliberately tamps down some pop expectations while she warily embraces others.Eilish has both the time-honored musicianship that awards shows admire and the metanarrative savvy of her digital-era generation. Countless imitators have learned from — and been emboldened by — her blend of raw revelations, graceful melodies and wily productions, abetted by her brother and songwriting partner, Finneas.Their historically grounded pop recombines musical theater, parlor songs, punk, folk, electronica, soundtracks, bossa nova, industrial rock and more. Eilish brings to all of them the poise of a vintage crooner: the capacity to float above beats and jolts, to treat a microphone as a confidant. Her voice can be breathy and intimate or eye-rolling and sardonic; at very strategic moments, she reveals her power to belt.Eilish’s 2019 debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” mapped gothic nightmares, adolescent obsessions and lingering traumas along with an occasional giggle. Her second, “Happier Than Ever” in 2021, reacted directly to the attention, shock, exploitation, stalking, exhaustion and newfound power that success brought her.“Skinny” is a hushed update on Eilish’s superstardom. “Am I acting my age now?/Am I already on the way out?,” she sings, along with thoughts on her body shape, finding nontoxic love, her sense of isolation and a resigned reaction to social media: “The internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny/and somebody’s gotta feed it.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicThe Popcast crew assembles for a semiannual mailbag episode, touching on many of the pressing pop music issues of the moment, including the controversy surrounding Frank Ocean’s Coachella set; the challenges faced by even the biggest pop stars (Sam Smith, Miley Cyrus) trying to follow massive singles; the sudden arrival of artificial intelligence in pop music and evolving notions of authorship; the startling recent growth in the popularity and visibility of música Mexicana and corridos tumbados, with stars like Grupo Frontera and Peso Pluma; and how the framework of genre continues to have meaning even in a universal-jukebox universe.Guests:Jon Pareles, The New York Time’s chief pop music criticJoe Coscarelli, The New York Times’s pop music reporterLindsay Zoladz, The New York Times’s pop music criticCaryn Ganz, The New York Times’s pop music editorConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More
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The three musicians will be battling it out for the Song of the Year honor, while Dua Lipa is up against Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi, The Weeknd and Maroon 5 for Most Performed International Work.
Mar 31, 2021
AceShowbiz –
Tame Impala star Kevin Parker, Guy Sebastian and Amy Shark are preparing to battle it out for the Song of the Year honor at the 2021 APRA Awards.“Lost It Yesterday” has earned Parker a nod, while Sebastian’s “Standing with You” and Shark’s “Everybody Rise” have also received recognition in the top category, alongside Tim Minchin’s “Carry You” and Midnight Oil’s “Gadigal Land”.
The peer-voted award is one of the highest honors given to Australian songwriters.
“Everybody Rise” and “Let Me Drink” will additionally go up against Tones And I’s “Never Seen the Rain”, Jessica Mauboy’s “Selfish” and “Break My Heart” by Dua Lipa for Most Performed Pop Work, as “Lost in Yesterday” competes for Most Performed Alternative Work.
Included in the Most Performed Rock Work shortlist are Wolfmother’s “Chase the Feeling”, Cold Chisel’s “Getting the Band Back Together” and Spacey Jane’s “Good for You”, with Martin Garrix and Dean Lewis’ “Used to Love” facing off with Joel Corry and MNEK’s “Head & Heart”, and “Rushing Back” by Flume featuring Vera Blue in the dance category.
The hip-hop/rap contenders include Day1’s “Boss, I’m Good?” by Hilltop Hoods and ONEFOUR’s “In the Beginning”, while Becca Hatch’s “2560”, “Rain” by The Teskey Brothers and Milan Ring’s “Say to Me” are in the running for the R&B/Soul accolade.
Meanwhile, The Kid LAROI, Mallrat, Miieha, Thelma Plum and Lime Cordiale are up for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year, and Dua Lipa picks up another mention for Most Performed International Work for “Don’t Start Now”, which faces stiff competition from “Adore You” by Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi’s “Before You Go”, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” and “Memories” by Maroon 5.
The 2021 APRA Awards, organized by officials at the Australasian Performing Right Association, will take place in-person in Sydney on April 28, when the late Helen Reddy will be honored with the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.
The list of 2021 APRA Music Awards nominees is below.
Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year:
Missy Higgins, “Carry You” (Writer: Tim Minchin; Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing)
Amy Shark, “Everybody Rise” (Writers: Amy Shark / Joel Little; Publishers: Mushroom Music / Sony Music Publishing)
Midnight Oil, feat. Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs & Bunna Lawrie “Gadigal Land”, Writers: Joel Davison / Rob Hirst / Bunna Lawrie, Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing)
Tame Impala, “Lost in Yesterday” (Writer: Kevin Parker; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Guy Sebastian, “Standing with You” (Writers: Guy Sebastian / Jamie Hartman / Greg Holden; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Mushroom Music obo Reservoir / Warner Chappell Music)See also…
Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year:
Charlton Howard pka The Kid LAROI (Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Grace Shaw pka Mallrat (Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Dew Process)
Miiesha Young pka Miiesha (Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Louis and Oli Leimbach (Lime Cordiale) (Publishers: Universal Music Publishing obo Chugg Music)
Thelma Plum (Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)Most Performed Australian Work:
Dua Lipa, “Break My Heart” (Writers: Andrew Farriss / Michael Hutchence / Dua Lipa / Jordan Johnson / Stefan Johnson / Ali Tamposi / Andrew Watt; Publishers: Warner Chappell Music / Universal Music Publishing / BMG Rights Management / Mushroom Music obo Reservoir / Kobalt Music Publishing)
The Rubens, “Live in Life” (Writers:Scott Baldwin / Elliott Margin / Sam Margin / Zaac Margin / William Zeglis; Publishers: Mushroom Music obo Ivy League Music)
Tones And I, “Never Seen the Rain” (Writer: Toni Watson; Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing)
Flume ft. Vera Blue, “Rushing Back” (Writers: Harley Streten / Celia Pavey / Eric Dubowsky / Sophie Cates; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic / Universal Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing)
Martin Garrix & Dean Lewis, “Used to Love” (Writers: Dean Lewis / Martijn Garritsen / Kristoffer Fogelmark / Albin Nedler; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing)Most Performed Alternative Work:
The Rubens, “Live in Life” (Writers: Scott Baldwin / Elliott Margin / Sam Margin / Zaac Margin / William Zeglis; Publishers: Mushroom Music obo Ivy League Music)
Tame Impala, “Lost in Yesterday” (Writer: Kevin Parker; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Lime Cordiale, “Robbery” (Writers: Louis Leimbach / Oli Leimbach / Shane Abrahams / Daniel Choder / Jonathan Pakfar; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing obo Chugg Music / Downtown Music / Kobalt Music Publishing)
DMA’s, “Silver” (Writers: Matt Mason / Tommy O’Dell / Johnny Took / Thomas Crandles / Joel Flyger / Liam Hoskins; Publishers: Mushroom Music / Sony Music Publishing)
Birds of Tokyo, “Two of Us” (Writers: Ian Berney / Ian Kenny / Glenn Sarangapany / Adam Spark / Adam Weston; Publisher: Mushroom Music)Most Performed Blues & Roots Work:
Ash Grunwald ft. The Teskey Brothers, “Aint My Problem” (Writer: Ash Grunwald; Publisher: Mushroom Music)
Dope Lemon, “Give Me Honey” (Writer: Angus Stone; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Busby Marou, “Over Drinking Over You” (Writers: Thomas Busby / Jeremy Marou / Ivy Adara / Jon Hume / Lindsey Jackson; Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing / Native Tongue Music Publishing)
Tash Sultana, “Pretty Lady” (Writers: Tash Sultana / Matt Corby / Dann Hume; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Tash Sultana / Sony Music Publishing)
Ziggy Alberts, “Together” (Writer: Ziggy Alberts; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Alberts & Co Music)Most Performed Country Work:
Casey Barnes, “A Little More” (Writers: Casey Barnes / Michael Delorenzis / Michael Paynter; Publisher: Mushroom Music)
Morgan Evans, “Diamonds” (Writers: Morgan Evans / Evan Bogart / Chris de Stefano; Publishers: Warner Chappell Music / Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing)
Brad Cox, “Give Me Tonight” (Writers: Brad Cox / Joseph Mungovan; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
The McClymonts, “I Got This” (Writers: Brooke McClymont / Mollie McClymont / Samantha McClymont / Andy Mak; Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Native Tongue Music Publishing)
Melanie Dyer, “Memphis T-Shirt” (Writers: Melanie Dyer / Emma-Lee / Karen Kosowski; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)Most Performed Dance Work:
PNAU ft. Ollie Gabriel, “All of Us” (Writers: Nick Littlemore / Sam Littlemore / Peter Mayes / Oli Gabriel; Publisher: Universal Music Publishing)
Joel Corry & MNEK, “Head & Heart” (Writers: Jonathan Courtidis / Neav Applebaum / Joel Corry / Daniel Dare / Robert Harvey / MNEK / Kasif Siddiqui / Lewis Thompson; Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing / Mushroom Music obo Minds on Fire / Warner Chappell Music / Kobalt Music Publishing)
Flume ft. Vera Blue, “Rushing Back” (Writers: Harley Streten / Celia Pavey / Eric Dubowsky / Sophie Cates; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Future Classic / Universal Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing)
Dom Dolla, “San Frandisco” (Writer: Dominic Matheson; Publishers: Sweat It Out Publishing administered by Kobalt Music Publishing)
Martin Garrix & Dean Lewis, “Used to Love” (Writers: Dean Lewis / Martijn Garritsen / Kristoffer Fogelmark / Albin Nedler; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing)Most Performed Hip Hop / Rap Work:
Day1, “Boss” (Writers: Bailey Rawiri / Tuhi Montell)
No Money Enterprise, “German” (Writers: Semisi Alosio / Vaha’i Finau / Junior Leaupepe / Schneider Leaupepe)
Hilltop Hoods, “I’m Good?” (Writers: Barry Francis (DJ Debris) / Matthew Lambert (Suffa) / Daniel Smith (Pressure) / Paul Bartlett / John Bartlett; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
ONEFOUR, “In the Beginning” (Writers: Spencer Magalogo / Jerome Misa / Pio Misa / Salec Su’a; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Youngn Lipz, “Misunderstood” (Writer: Filipo Faaoloii)Most Performed R&B / Soul Work:
Becca Hatch, “2560” (Writers: Becca Hatch / Maribelle Anes / Jamie Muscat / Willie Tafa / Solo Tohi; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing)
Winston Surfshirt, “Nobodylikeyou” (Writers: Jack Hambling / Lachlan McAllister / Brett Ramson; Publisher: BMG Rights Management)
The Teskey Brothers, “Rain” (Writers: Josh Teskey / Sam Teskey / Liam Gough / Brendan Love; Publisher: Mushroom Music)
Milan Ring, “Say to Me” (Writers: Milan Ring / Blessed Joe-Andah; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / BMG Rights Management)
Miiesha, “Twisting Words” (Writers: Miiesha Young / Stephen Collins / Mohamed Komba; Publishers: Sony Music Publishing / Mushroom Music)Most Performed Pop Work:
Dua Lipa, “Break My Heart” (Writers: Andrew Farriss / Michael Hutchence / Dua Lipa / Jordan Johnson / Stefan Johnson / Ali Tamposi / Andrew Watt; Publishers: Warner Chappell Music / Universal Music Publishing / BMG Rights Management / Mushroom Music obo Reservoir / Kobalt Music Publishing)
Amy Shark, “Everybody Rise” (Writers: Amy Shark / Joel Little; Publishers: Mushroom Music / Sony Music Publishing)
Guy Sebastian, “Let Me Drink” (Writers: Guy Sebastian / M-Phazes / Olubowale Akintimehin; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music)
Tones And I, “Never Seen the Rain” (Writer: Toni Watson; Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing)
Jessica Mauboy, “Selfish” (Writers: Jessica Mauboy / Antonio Egizii / Isabella Kearney-Nurse / David Musumeci; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Sony Music Publishing)Most Performed Rock Work:
Wolfmother ft. Chris Cester, “Chase the Feeling” (Writers: Andrew Stockdale / Chris Cester / Jason Hill; Publishers: BMG Rights Management / Universal/MCA Music Publishing)
Cold Chisel, “Getting the Band Back Together” (Writer: Don Walker; Publisher: Sony Music Publishing)
Spacey Jane, “Good for You” (Writers: Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu / Caleb Harper / Kieran Lama / Peppa Lane; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing obo Dew Process)
Hockey Dad, “I Missed Out” (Writers: Will Fleming / Zach Stephenson; Publisher: BMG Rights Management)
The Amity Affliction, “Soak Me in Bleach” (Writers: Joel Birch / Ahren Stringer / Daniel Brown / Joseph Longobardi; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Native Tongue Music Publishing)Most Performed International Work:
Harry Styles, “Adore You” (Writers: Harry Styles / Amy Allen / Thomas Hull / Tyler Johnson; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / Kobalt Music Publishing / Native Tongue Music Publishing)
Lewis Capaldi, “Before You Go” (Writers: Lewis Capaldi / Thomas Barnes / Peter Kelleher / Benjamin Kohn / Philip Plested; Publishers: BMG Rights Management / Sony Music Publishing)
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” (Writers: Abel Tesfaye / Ahmad Balshe / Oscar Holter / Max Martin / Jason Quenneville; Publishers: Kobalt Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music / Universal/MCA Music Publishing)
Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now” (Writers: Dua Lipa / Caroline Ailin / Ian Kirkpatrick / Emily Schwartz; Publishers: Universal Music Publishing / BMG Rights Management / Warner Chappell Music / Kobalt Music Publishing)
Maroon 5, “Memories” (Writers: Adam Levine / Jonathan Bellion / Vincent Ford / Jacob Hindlin / ordan Johnson / Stefan Johnson / Michael Pollack; Publishers: Universal/MCA Music Publishing / BMG Right Management / Kobalt Music Publishing / Warner Chappell Music)You can share this post!
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As the founder of the independent label Specialty Records, he helped set the table for the rock ’n’ roll era by signing performers like Little Richard.Art Rupe, the founder of Specialty Records, an innovative independent label based in Los Angeles that brought rhythm and blues into the mainstream and helped set the table for the rock ’n’ roll era with singers like Little Richard and Lloyd Price, died on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 104.His death was announced by his daughter, Beverly Rupe Schwarz.Mr. Rupe created Specialty in 1946 with a niche audience in mind (hence the name). The major labels of the time, focused on mass-market pop hits, ignored the urbanized, blues-based music that appealed to Black audiences in the big cities. Mr. Rupe hoped to capitalize on this oversight by showcasing acts with “a big-band sound expressed in a churchy way,” as he put it to Arnold Shaw, the author of “Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues” (1978).In the late 1940s and early ’50s, artists like Roy Milton, Percy Mayfield and Joe Liggins consistently put Specialty in the Top 10 of what were known as the “race record” charts until Billboard magazine began using the term “rhythm and blues” in 1949. In 1952, on a scouting trip to New Orleans, Mr. Rupe recorded Lloyd Price, then 19, singing his own composition, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” That record, which featured Fats Domino on piano, became the top-selling R&B record of the year and broke through to white listeners, too.Mr. Rupe hit one of rock ’n’ roll’s mother lodes when he signed Richard Penniman, known professionally as Little Richard, on the strength of a scratchy audition tape. SpecialtyThree years later, Mr. Rupe hit one of rock ’n’ roll’s mother lodes when he signed Richard Penniman, known professionally as Little Richard, on the strength of a scratchy audition tape. During a lunch break at a recording session in New Orleans, Little Richard sat down at the piano and shouted out a risqué song he used in his nightclub act: “Tutti Frutti.” With hastily rewritten lyrics, the song became one of rock’s early classics, and the first in a string of Little Richard hits that included “Long Tall Sally,” “Slippin’ and Slidin’,” “Rip It Up,” “Lucille,” “Keep a-Knockin’” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly.”“Art Rupe had a tremendous impact on rock ’n’ roll,” said John Broven, the author of “Record Makers and Breakers” (2009), a history of early rock ’n’ roll’s independent record producers. “‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ was really the first record to cross over and reach a teenage white audience, and then came Little Richard with ‘Tutti-Frutti’ and ‘Long Tall Sally.’ These were monumental records that almost created rock ’n’ roll in themselves.”Art Rupe was born Arthur Newton Goldberg on Sept. 5, 1917, in Greensburg, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh, and grew up in nearby McKeesport, where his father, David, was a salesman at a secondhand furniture store and his mother, Anna, was a music lover. After attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Miami University in Ohio, he moved to Los Angeles in 1939.He enrolled in business courses at U.C.L.A. with the idea of entering the film business; he also changed his last name to Rupe after being told by a relative that it had been the family’s original surname in Europe. After World War II broke out, he worked at a local shipyard on an engineering crew that tested Liberty ships.The movie business, he found, was tough to enter, and he shifted his attention to the recording industry. Responding to a newspaper ad, he invested $2,500 in a new label, Atlas Records, which lost most of his money and failed to produce hits by its two main artists, Nat King Cole and Frankie Laine.Roy Milton and His Solid Senders in a publicity photo. Mr. Milton, standing, a jump-blues singer, recorded numerous Top 10 R&B hits for Specialty.Courtesy of Colin EscottAfter selling his interest in Atlas for $600, Mr. Rupe created his own company, Juke Box Records, in 1944. “I called it Juke Box because the jukebox was the medium then for plugging records,” he told Arnold Shaw. “If you got a record into the boxes, it was tantamount to getting it on the top stations today.”Mr. Rupe was methodical. He bought $200 worth of race records and, stopwatch in hand, began analyzing musical structure, tempo and even titles to identify the common characteristics of the best-selling releases. Since the word “boogie” appeared in a disproportionate number of hit songs, Juke Box’s first record, an instrumental by the Sepia Tones, was given the title “Boogie No. 1.” It sold a more than respectable 70,000 copies, and Mr. Rupe was on his way.The jump-blues singer Roy Milton and his band, the Solid Senders, gave Juke Box its first big hit: “R.M. Blues,” released in 1945, which was said to have sold a million copies. Mr. Milton went on to record nearly 20 Top 10 R&B hits after following Mr. Rupe to Specialty, which he founded the next year after breaking with his Juke Box partners.In 1950 the pianist and bandleader Joe Liggins gave Specialty its first No. 1 hit, “Pink Champagne,” which became the top-selling R&B record of the year. Percy Mayfield, a singer and songwriter with a relaxed, swinging style who would later contribute “Hit the Road, Jack” and other songs to Ray Charles’s repertoire, topped the charts a year later with “Please Send Me Someone to Love.” Guitar Slim gave the label yet another No. 1 hit in 1954 with “The Things That I Used to Do,” one of the earliest records to put the electric guitar front and center.“Specialty was a little like the Blue Note label in jazz,” said the singer and music historian Billy Vera, who produced “The Specialty Story,” a boxed set of the label’s best sides released in 1994, and wrote “Rip It Up: The Specialty Records Story,” published in 2019. “Art was dollar conscious, but he did not let that stop him from going into the better studios and taking the time to rehearse. He took great pride and care to make quality records with quality musicians.”Specialty exerted a powerful influence on the British invasion bands of the 1960s, and even its second-tier acts had a ripple effect. Larry Williams, a New Orleans singer groomed by Specialty to fill the void when Little Richard left the music business in 1957, had solid hits with “Short Fat Fannie” and “Bony Moronie,” but even his lesser singles made an impression overseas. His single “She Said Yeah” was covered by the Rolling Stones and the Animals. The Beatles recorded three of his songs: “Bad Boy,” “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” and “Slow Down.” Don and Dewey, another Specialty act, never had a hit, but their sound greatly influenced the Righteous Brothers and Sam and Dave.Mr. Rupe, a longtime fan of gospel music, quickly made Specialty’s gospel division an industry leader, signing the Pilgrim Travelers, the Swan Silvertones, Alex Bradford, Brother Joe May and Sister Wynona Carr. Two of the label’s most famous gospel groups generated crossover stars for other labels: Sam Cooke became a pop star after leaving the Soul Stirrers, as did Lou Rawls, who recorded with the Chosen Gospel Singers.Mr. Cooke was the one that got away. In 1956, he recorded a pop tune, “Lovable,” produced by Specialty’s Bumps Blackwell with a lush background chorus and released with the singer’s name thinly disguised as Dale Cook. Mr. Rupe disliked the smooth pop treatment and let Mr. Blackwell and Mr. Cooke leave the label with the other recordings from that session in hand. One song, “You Send Me,” became a chart-topping hit and ignited Mr. Cooke’s remarkable career.“In all candor, I did not think ‘You Send Me’ was that great,” Mr. Rupe told an interviewer for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. “I never dreamed it would be a multimillion seller.”Mr. Rupe in 2019. He sold Specialty’s catalog in 1990 and created the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation in 1991.Rauh Jewish Archives, Heinz History CenterBy 1960, Mr. Rupe was growing disenchanted with the record business, particularly with the widespread system of payola, which required record companies to pay off disc jockeys and distributors to get their records heard.Increasingly, he let assistants like Harold Battiste, in New Orleans, and Sonny Bono, in Los Angeles, produce and market the label’s records. In 1990, he sold Specialty’s catalog to Fantasy RecordsWhile still at Specialty, Mr. Rupe invested successfully in oil and real estate and started his own oil company. In 1991 he created the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, whose stated goals include “achieving positive social change by shining the light of truth on critical and controversial issues” and providing support for caregivers of people with dementia.In addition to his daughter — from the second of his three marriages, to Lee Apostoleris, which ended in divorce — Mr. Rupe is survived by a granddaughter; a step-grandson; and two step-great-granddaughters. His third wife, Dorothy Rupe, and three siblings died before him.In 2011, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame gave Mr. Rupe the Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement, an honor given to record-company executives.“When I got into the business, few white people fooled around with this kind of music,” Mr. Rupe told Arnold Shaw. “I had no idea that it would ever appeal to so many white people.” More
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