Bob Shad

Who was Bob Shad?

Robert "Bob" Shad was an American record producer and record label owner. He produced the first album by Big Brother and the Holding Company. Among his more successful labels were Time Records, Brent Records, and Mainstream Records.

Shad's career as a producer began with Savoy Records and National Records in the 1940s, producing Charlie Parker in addition to blues and R&B material. He founded the first of several labels, Sittin' In With, in 1948, where he produced Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Smokey Hogg, Peppermint Harris, Curley Weaver, and others. In 1951, he was named director of A&R at Mercury Records, where he founded the EmArcy label. There he produced, among others, jazz musicians Sarah Vaughan, Maynard Ferguson, the Clifford Brown/Max Roach quintet, Billy Eckstine and Dinah Washington. He also worked in pop and blues.

Shad formed the Time label in the mid-to-late 1950s and besides the jazz and cocktail pop albums, he had hits with The Bell Notes, and on his Shad label, The Knockouts. He also formed the Brent label and had hits with Skip & Flip, The Chevrons and Bertha Tillman.