Joachim "Jean" Aberbach (12 August 1910 – 24 May 1992) was an Austrian-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

. With his brother Julian, he was responsible for establishing Hill and Range as one of the leading music publishing houses, responsible for songs recorded by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

and many others.

Life and career

Aberbach was born in Bad Vöslau,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the son of Anna and Aron Adolf Aberbach, who were

Ukrainian Jews The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

. His father ran a

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business. Jean left school at the age of 16 and after a family argument began working in

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for a music publisher, Will Meisel, before moving to

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to work for another publisher there. His brother Julian joined him in Paris in 1932, and they established a music publishing business, which concentrated on securing royalties for movie screenwriters. After the brothers sold the business in 1936, Jean began working in the US as an agent for French music publisher Francis Salabert, while Julian remained in Paris.Biography by Jason Ankeny at Allmusic
/ref>American Society of the French Legion of Honor, Newsletter, December 2003
After the war, he worked in

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for music publisher Max Dreyfus at publishers Chappell & Co., but in 1952, when Dreyfus tried to buy the company that Julian Aberbach had established in

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, Hill and Range, Jean decided to leave and join his brother's company. Hill and Range rapidly expanded, particularly through dominating the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

publishing business in

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. At one point, the company represented some three quarters of the music produced in Nashville. The two brothers shared responsibility for running the company, with Jean primarily based in New York and Julian in Los Angeles, although they frequently swapped roles. After 1955, the company had particular responsibility for the songs recorded by

, Sherman, Robert B., (2013) "Evvis Something" in '' Moose: Chapters From My Life'',

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. pp. 313-318 through an arrangement by which the company owned 50% of the rights. Jean Aberbach sold 75% of Hill and Range to Warner Chappell in the early 1970s, at a time when his brother was incapacitated following a heart attack. Jean died in New York in 1992 at the age of 81.

Life and career

References

Further reading