Bhaskar Menon, former head of EMI International (from Wikipedia)
Bhaskar Menon (29 May 1934 – 4 March 2021) was a music industry executive of Indian origin. He hailed from Palakkad, Kerala, India. He initially worked with The Gramophone Company of India Ltd. (HMV) Dum Dum, Calcutta, India as the Chairman and MD. From there he was taken to the United Kingdom by EMI.
As the first Chairman & CEO of EMI Music Worldwide, Bhaskar Menon was best known as a music industry executive, overseeing the EMI Group’s worldwide operations and subsidiaries.
A citizen of the United States, Menon was born in India where he was educated at The Doon School and received a B.A. Honors degree from the University of Delhi. He earned a master’s degree from Christ Church, Oxford University, and joined EMI Limited in London. Transferred to India and the Far East, he was appointed Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive of EMI’s Indian subsidiary.
Menon returned to London as Divisional Director and General Manager (Overseas) of EMI Limited responsible for the Group’s interests and investments outside the U.K. He was concurrently appointed Managing Director of EMI International Services Limited with direct operating responsibility for companies in 25 countries. He represented EMI on the Boards of several subsidiary and associated companies including Capitol Industries in the U.S.A. and Toshiba EMI Limited in Japan.
Menon transferred to Los Angeles and was elected President and Chief Executive Officer of Capitol Industries Inc., a public corporation in which EMI held majority interest. He was appointed a Director of the parent Board of EMI Limited, and elected Chairman of the Board of Capitol Industries Inc. in addition to remaining President and Chief Executive Officer of all its operating companies in North America including Capitol Records, the Merco & MusicDen Retail Group, Capitol Magnetic Products division, and of the Screen Gems and Colgems music publishing companies and United Artists Records which he acquired for Capitol/EMI. He was also Chairman of EMI Films Inc. and EMI Television Programs Inc.
Menon turned around the financially troubled Capitol EMI into a successful major player in the music industry. In a 1978 article, the publication New Musical Express noted, “Within a year he had turned Capitol’s $15 million loss into a profit. His motto for his employees was simple: ‘Uncompromising excellence in what you do goes without saying. We expect more than that.
A recent posting on the FYI music site had this to say about Menon’s achievements at EMI.
“Menon pulled the British companies sprawling assets, spread over 46 countries, under one roof and created EMI Music Worldwide in 1978.
Menon was a great team builder, he had a passion for music and he loved entertaining and hanging out with musicians. Just like the incredible team that built Warner, Elektra and Atlantic. From what I remember of Bhaskar Menon, his kindness, generosity and sharp intellect were appreciated by the stable of talent the company acquired and held on to in those years.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaskar_Menon
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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…
March 2021
10: János Gonda, 89, Hungarian jazz pianist; Lyudmila Lyadova, 95, Russian composer and singer, People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1984), complications from COVID-19.
9: Freddy Birset, 73, Belgian singer and musician; Maarja Haamer, 82, Estonian opera singer; Len Skeat, 84, English jazz double-bassist.
8: Adrian Barar, 61, Romanian guitarist and composer (Cargo), COVID-19; James MacGaw, French guitarist (Magma), brain cancer; Éva Tordai, 83, Hungarian opera singer.
7: Dmitri Bashkirov, 89, Russian pianist; Sanja Ilic, 69, Serbian composer (“Nova deca”) and keyboardist (San, Balkanika), COVID-19; Josky Kiambukuta, 72, Congolese singer (TPOK Jazz); Lars Göran Petrov, 49, Swedish heavy metal singer (Entombed, Entombed A.D., Firespawn), bile duct cancer.
6: Renée Doria, 100, French opera singer; Sasa Klaas, 27, Motswanan singer-songwriter, helicopter crash.
5: Michael Stanley, 72, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, lung cancer.
4: Alan Cartwright, 75, English rock bassist (Procol Harum), stomach cancer; DJ Adviser, Ghanaian disc jockey (Happy FM); Barbara Ess, 73, American photographer and musician (Disband, Y Pants); Tony Hendra, 79, British comedian and actor (This Is Spinal Tap), complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Bhaskar Menon, 86, Indian-born American music industry executive, chairman and CEO of EMI Worldwide; Helmut Winschermann, 100, German classical oboist and composer.
3: Medea Abrahamyan, 88, Armenian cellist; Duffy Jackson, 67, American jazz drummer, complications from hip surgery; Jeroen van Merwijk, 65, Dutch comedian, painter, and songwriter, colorectal cancer; Dagoberto Planos Despaigne, 64, Cuban singer, cirrhosis; Maria José Valério, 87, Portuguese singer, COVID-19.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2021