Joseph Benjamin Smith (January 26, 1928 – December 2, 2019) was an American music industry executive.

Early life

Smith was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Chelsea, Massachusetts. His parents were Phil and Lil Smith. Smith joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

after graduating high school in 1945 and served with the occupation forces in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Career

Smith attended

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. After graduation, he became a sportscaster and later a DJ at WMEX and WBZ in Boston. Smith was hired as national promotion manager at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in 1961 and later served as the label's general manager. He was named President of Warner Bros. in 1972. In 1975, he became chairman of Warner's sister company, Elektra/Asylum. Smith briefly served as president of the

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

in 1986. He became vice chairman and chief executive of Capitol-EMI that same year. While at Capitol Records, Smith compiled 238 hours of recorded interviews with artists and executives. Excerpts from his recordings were included in his 1988 book ''Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music.'' In 2012, Smith donated these recordings to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Death

Smith died December 2, 2019 at the age of 91.

References

External links

Joe Smith Collection: Library of Congress
1928 births 2019 deaths Businesspeople from Boston Businesspeople from Los Angeles Yale University alumni American music industry executives 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-stub