Thomas Jerome Moulton (, ; born November 29, 1940) is an American

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. He experimented with

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...

and this led to its wide adoption as a standard practice in the industry. He also invented the breakdown section, and the

twelve-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compar ...

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

format in the process.

Life and career

Moulton was born in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

, United States, as the oldest of five children to parents who both were

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians. He worked as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

at the Bookings and Ford agencies before beginning his production career. Before that, he had worked in the

music industry The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...

, firstly as a child working part-time in record shops, then holding a sales and promotion job at King Records (from 1959 to 1961), and similar positions at

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

and

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. He eventually left due to his disgust at the industry's dishonesty.Shapiro, Peter. ''Turn the Beat Around: the Secret History of Disco''. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2005., p. 40 His music career restarted in the late 1960s, with a self-made tape of overlapping songs created for the

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...

bar and restaurant, The Sandpiper.Shapiro, Peter. ''Turn the Beat Around: the Secret History of Disco''. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2005., p. 42 He was responsible for the first continuous-mix album side, on

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

's disco album '' Never Can Say Goodbye'', earning him the title of "father of the disco mix." Among some of his other successes in mixing songs are

The Three Degrees The Three Degrees are an American female vocal group formed circa 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although 12 women have been members over the years, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up consists of Helen Scott, Valerie Ho ...

' "Dirty Ol' Man", MFSB featuring The Three Degrees' "Love Is the Message", B.T. Express' " Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)", Tamiko Jones's "Let It Flow", Sarah Dash's "Sinner Man", Michele's ( Chantal Curtis) "Disco Dance", The Trammps' " Disco Inferno", People's Choice's " Do It Any Way You Wanna", Andrea True's " More, More, More", plus First Choice's "Doctor Love" as well as "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" and Claudja Barry's album, ''The Girl Most Likely''. Between 1977 and 1979, he produced

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

's first three albums, including one of the singer's biggest hits, her rendition of

Édith Piaf Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...

's " La Vie en rose". Moulton's innovative work was honored at the 2004 Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony in New York City, when he was inducted for his achievements as a

remixer A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

. He is the official archivist of the Bethlehem Jazz and Salsoul music catalogues and has overseen all of the digital remastering. In late 2006, Moulton remixed the Brand New Heavies (featuring N'Dea Davenport)'s single "I Don't Know (Why I Love You)". In 2006, a compilation of mixes titled '' A Tom Moulton Mix'' of Moulton's remixes on

Soul Jazz Records Soul Jazz Records is a British record label based in London. Outside of releasing records, the label also publishes books, occasionally films and performs as a DJ set. The music releases labels from a variety of genres, including reggae, house, ...

. The British label Harmless Records has released albums of Moulton's work of remixed tracks, originally issued on Philadelphia International and other Philly soul labels, mainly during the 1970s.

References

External links

Tom Moulton
interview at Disco-Disco * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moulton, Tom 1940 births Living people Businesspeople from Schenectady, New York Record producers from New York (state) American remixers Engineers from New York (state)