Al Coury

Who was Al Coury?

Albert Eli "Al" Coury was a 1970s vice-president of American record label Capitol Records. He joined the label in 1957 and rose to the position of vice-president of marketing, sales and promotion. Coury helped develop the careers of many recording artists, including The Beatles, Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Glen Campbell, Bob Seger, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Don Henley, Cher and Linda Ronstadt.

Coury was important to several solo Beatles releases in the 1970s, particularly Paul McCartney's 1973 album Band On The Run, and John Lennon's 1974 album Walls and Bridges, both of which reached the top of the charts and yielded #1 singles. It was Coury who persuaded McCartney to include the successful single "Helen Wheels" on the US version of Band On The Run. He then chose the song "Jet" as the second single, which helped make the album the most successful of McCartney's solo efforts.

The following year, Lennon invited Coury to "work his magic" promoting Lennon's Walls and Bridges album. It was Coury who chose the first single, "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night", which became Lennon's first #1 solo hit. Coury was also instrumental in the long-awaited release of Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, bartering with producer Phil Spector to retrieve the master tapes from their abandoned 1973 recording sessions.