Bob Krasnow, Veteran Record Executive, Has Died

In a personal note addressed to friends at the Warner Music Group penned by Bob Hurwitz, co-president of Nonesuch Records, he wrote that "Few people in the music business can be said to have made a profound impact on the destiny of a company. Fewer still could be said to have an impact on two different companies. Bob Krasnow, who passed away last night, had a profound impact on four different record companies in his career."

He lists Blue Thumb Records, where Krasnow signed the Pointer Sisters, Dave Mason, Captain Beefheart and others; Warner Bros., where Krasnow served as the head of talent acquisition and "brought the company into the African-American marketplace for the first time in its history"; and Elektra.

"There were two golden ages at Elektra: the first was the Jac Holzman years; the second was the Bob Krasnow years," Hurwitz writes, reeling off the label's many successful acts as well as Nonesuch, which Krasnow hired Hurwitz to run in 1984. "Nonesuch's sustained existence would have been unimaginable without [Bob's] deep support and love of the music we were releasing."

As the note reaches its end, Hurwitz concludes: "We will all say more about Bob in the upcoming days, but a few things should be noted. First, he had a big personality, and it wasn't always the easiest personality. Second, he was a brilliant man, whose range of interests was as wide as anyone I've known in a position like that. Third, in terms of skill-set, I never met anyone who combined a knowledge of A&R, promotion and marketing like he did. Without Bob, there would not be a Blue Thumb. Warners would have been a different company. The experience of Elektra in the '80s and '90s would not have been possible. And Nonesuch....well, it might have stayed a small and interesting budget label. This is what Bob Krasnow did."