Brian William Couzens (17 January 1933 – 17 April 2015) was a British music industry executive, recording engineer, and producer. He founded

Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

, Couzens was the son of Vera and William Couzens. His father worked for the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

in engine research, and his grandfather was a department store owner. He taught himself the trombone as a youth, performed in dance bands, and did his national service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

band. Couzens arranged music for EMI and the BBC, including work for the latter's programme '' Friday Night is Music Night''. His skills at arrangements came to the attention of

Ron Goodwin Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 19258 January 2003) was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included ''Where Eagles Dare'', ''Battle ...

, who hired Couzens to arrange one of his own film scores. The two subsequently collaborated on cinema scores over a period of about 10 years and over 30 films on scores, including such films as '' 633 Squadron'' (1964), ''

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines; Or, How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes'' is a 1965 British period comedy film that satirizes the early years of aviation. Directed and co-written by Ken Annakin, the film ...

'' (1965) and ''

Where Eagles Dare ''Where Eagles Dare'' is a 1968 war film directed by Brian G. Hutton and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and Mary Ure. It follows a joint British-American Special Operations Executive team of paratroopers raiding a castle (shot on lo ...

'' (1968). Some of his light music compositions, such as ''Exotica'' and ''Holiday Highway'' as performed by the Stuttgart Studio Orchestra, became staples of the BBC's Test Card transmission music repertoire. During this period, Couzens had founded his publishing house Chandos, which had a particular focus on music for brass bands. With newly gained experience from his film work, he expanded Chandos into an engineering and recording firm, with a mobile studio. As a freelance producer, he engineered recordings for labels such as RCA, recruiting his son Ralph into the business when the latter was age 16. In 1979, after the termination of his contract with RCA, Couzens formed Chandos Records as an independent record label, with his son as engineer and Janet Osbourne as designer. Chandos had hoped to distribute their recordings through EMI, but this arrangement did not come to fruition, which forced Couzens father and son to sell their records directly themselves across the UK. He made Chandos one of the earliest independent record labels to use digital recording technology in the early 1980s. In 2004, Couzens transferred day-to-day production duties to Ralph Couzens, and took the titles of chairman and senior producer for the label. Couzens received an honorary doctorate from the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in 2007, and a 'Special Achievement' honour from ''Gramophone'' in 2010. Couzens was married twice. His first marriage, to Isle Hauguth in 1956, lasted until her death in 2005, and produced four children, Ralph, Mark, Philip, and Isabella. His second marriage was to Deborah Frogel, in 2006. His four children and his second wife survive him.

References

External links

Rob Barnett, "30 Years of Chandos - An Interview with Brian and Ralph Couzens" (15 December 2008). ''MusicWeb International'', 9 January 2009

Brian Couzens, Ron Goodwin and Others: ''Light Music, Volume 2'', Chandos 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Couzens, Brian 1933 births 2015 deaths People from Southend-on-Sea British music industry executives 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Royal Air Force personnel Military personnel from Southend-on-Sea