Marc Nathan, the promotion and A&R government who in his 55-year profession helped Barenaked Girls, 3 Doorways Down and extra get file offers, has died. He was 70.
He handed away earlier this week at Vanderbilt Medical Middle in Nashville, a consultant says. An announcement stated Nathan had “been ailing for a while and he lastly succumbed to a wide range of afflictions.”
Nathan acquired his foot within the door within the music trade at simply 15 years outdated, when the then-Queens, New York, child wrote a letter to Todd Rundgren and obtained a reply from Ampex Data’ Paul Fishkin, with reference to a monitor itemizing anomaly he discovered on Rundgren’s Runt album.
“He simply so occurred to open a stack of Todd’s fan mail that day. If he hadn’t opened that stack of mail that day, you recognize … My life would have been altered endlessly,” Nathan stated in an interview in 2019.
Nathan quickly landed his first trade job in radio promotion at Ampex, which led to him constructing a profession with roles in promotion at labels together with Bearsville, Casablanca, Playboy, Sire and Atlantic.
“I misplaced my finest buddy of 55 years,” Fishkin famous following his loss of life. “Marc Nathan walked like he talked in addition to anybody I’ve ever identified. His irascible, acquired style persona was what I loved probably the most, regardless that maddening at occasions. We had a lot in widespread chiding and deriding phonies and pretentious fools in sports activities, politics, however most significantly, the music enterprise. We often loved busting one another as effectively. We delighted in having our personal generally hilarious shorthand placing us on the ground at occasions with uncontrollable laughter. He was a fantastic file man, and a baseball and hockey chronicler supreme, amongst his many abilities and passions. And sure, I’ve tales! However most essential was his loyalty and assist for all the appropriate individuals and points. And he by no means let me down in all these 55 years.”
Over time — with stints in New York, Los Angeles and, most just lately, Nashville — Nathan additionally labored in A&R, having a hand in Common’s acquisition of Money Cash Data, and in expertise improvement for Common, Capitol, Atlantic/ATCO and imprints.
Among the many artists he acquired signed have been the bands 3 Doorways Down (at Common) and Barenaked Girls (at Sire). He later established a label, Flagship Data, to launch solo work from Barenaked Girls co-founder Steven Web page.
“Marc was a file particular person of the very best order,” Web page wrote following his loss of life. “He was completely and passionately obsessive about music and amassed an encyclopedic reminiscence for songs, charts and artists. He performed an enormous position in my profession and in my life — a job that arced throughout our complete shared timeline. Marc was a man who beloved large, emotional music and in addition too-smart-for-its-own-good pop and had an enormous mushy spot for foolish novelty songs too. We type of match the invoice completely for him and he acquired us. Marc took our demo tape to Seymour Stein at Sire information, and, fortunately, Seymour acquired it. Whereas everybody else was calling us a throwaway, Seymour checked out Marc and stated, ‘They’re a Simon and Garfunkel for the ‘90s.’ Marc was all the time particularly happy with his involvement, and I’m eternally grateful to him for it.”
Web page added, “He was among the many first and most persistent of my mates to lend me assist, recommendation and solidarity. He may very well be a nudge, however that’s solely as a result of he had an enormous coronary heart and he actually, actually cared. There have been many, many individuals in his life that he would counsel and coach and cajole and mentor via their darkest hours — he’d been there and again a number of occasions himself — and I’m proud and grateful to be a kind of mates. I’m fortunate to have identified him.”
