Russ Regan

Who is Russ Regan?

Russ Regan is a long-time record executive who was President of both UNI Records and 20th Century Records. Regan also worked at Motown among other companies and the musical recordings he has been involved with during his career have reportedly achieved sales of over one billion records worldwide.

Regan started in record promotion with Motown in the early years of the company. His first project there was the company's first Billboard Hot 100 number one record, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes, in 1961. He would go on to promote songs by the likes of The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. He suggested the name of The Beach Boys when a Los Angeles group called The Pendeltons had just recorded a song called "Surfin'". He also helped Frank Sinatra record his #4 hit, "That's Life" in 1966. He struck a deal with Jimmy Miller Productions when Miller left The Rolling Stones which resulted in albums from B.B.King, Henry Gross, Bobby Whitlock, and others. Regan also signed Ambrosia and Harriet Schock to 20th Century Records.

Russ Regan played a major role in the careers of some of the biggest names of recorded music as he headed up labels such as Uni, 20th Century & Polygram Records. Dozens of recording artists, including super stars Elton John, Neil Diamond, Barry White, Olivia Newton-John and The Beach Boys had Regan to thank for opening the doors for their success. One of his most surprising successes while at Uni was South African trumpeter Hugh Masakela's "Grazing In The Grass" in 1968, which sold over a million and reached the top spot in the Billboard pop chart.