Wilma Cozart Fine (March 29, 1927, Aberdeen, Mississippi – September 21, 2009,

Harrison, New York Harrison is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, northeast of Manhattan. The population was 28,218 at the 2020 census. History Harrison was established in 1696 by a patent granted by the British government to John Harrison a ...

) was an American

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

who, with her husband, C. Robert Fine (1922–1982), ran the classical division of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

in the 1950s and early 1960s. She produced hundreds of recordings, particularly the Mercury Living Presence series. According to her 2009 obituary in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', the recordings remain "prized by collectors for the depth and realism of their sound."Allan Kozin
"Wilma Cozart Fine, Classical Music Record Producer, Dies at 82"
, ''New York Times'', September 24, 2009 A native of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, she attended the University of North Texas studying music education at the

UNT College of Music The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school among the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. It developed the first jazz studies ...

and business. In 2011, Cozart Fine was awarded a posthumous Grammy Trustees Award for her significant contributions to the recording industry.

References

External links

Interview with Wilma Cozart Fine
November 20, 1995
''Wilma Cozart Fine: The Muse of Mercury''
2010 article {{DEFAULTSORT:Fine, Wilma Cozart 1927 births 2009 deaths Record producers from Mississippi Record producers from Texas University of North Texas College of Music alumni Women audio engineers American women record producers Early Recording Engineers (1930-1959)