Marshall Blonstein is an

entertainment industry Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have dev ...

executive who is best known as the founder and president of the audiophile music labels

Audio Fidelity Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound * Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of soun ...

and DCC Compact Classics. He also held positions at labels including

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

and Ode.

Career

Blonstein was born and raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He entered the music business in 1966, working at

Dunhill Records Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed b ...

. He subsequently moved into record promotion with ABC Records and from 1966 to 1970 performed similar duties for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, working in Chicago and Los Angeles. He ended his tenure with Columbia in 1970 directing promotional activities for the company's Epic and associated labels from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. From 1970 to 1979 Blonstein held executive positions at Ode Records, a label he helped to found with Lou Adler, where he was involved with the success of

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

’s

Tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

album (1971), the concert edition of

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

’s

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

(1972),

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...

(1975), and Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke movie (1978), among other projects. He served as president of Island Records from 1979 to 1982. Blonstein began a new phase of his career in 1986 when he founded DCC Compact Classics as one of the first companies to issue catalogue music product on the then-new

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

format. It catered to the high-end audiophile market with its line of digitally remastered reissues on its 24 Karat Gold CD and 180-gram pure virgin vinyl formats. DCC released audiophile editions of albums by artists including

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

and the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. In 2002 Blonstein founded Morada Music and Video, which issued new music and licensed features for DVD, and Audio Fidelity Music, which specializes in audiophile reissues. Among the Audio Fidelity catalogue titles are

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

’s

Sweet Baby James ''Sweet Baby James'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on February 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records. The album includes two of Taylor's earliest successful singles: " Fire and Rain", and " Country R ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

’s Songs in the Key of Life,

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

’s No Secrets and several

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

titles. He also added Super Audio Compact Discs (SACD) with titles from Bob Dylan, Phil Collins, Bob Marley and Eric Clapton and others, and created a series of 5.1 Surround Sound audiophile titles, which included albums by George Benson, Earth, Wind & Fire and others. He also established a DVD series Among others, Morada released the historic series

Playboy After Dark ''Playboy After Dark'' is an American television show hosted by Hugh Hefner. It aired in syndication through Screen Gems from 1969 to 1970 and was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Overview ''Playboy After Dark'' followed much the sa ...

, and represented the licensing of Soupy Sales television shows. Additionally, the company produced two Elvis Presley documentaries on DVD, Elvis From The Beginning To The End and Elvis, A Generous Heart. With his partners John Paul DeJoria and Johnathon Kendrick, a line of portable record players was created and marketed as Rock 'N' Rolla for the vinyl market.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blonstein, Marshall Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Businesspeople from Los Angeles American entertainment industry businesspeople