VERVE FORECAST RECORDS
Verve Forecast Records is a record label specializing in cutting-edge material which was founded in 1967 by Verve Records and since been revived twice. Verve Forecast was founded by Verve executive Jerry Schoenbaum as an outgrowth of Verve Folkways Records, founded in 1964 in association with Folkways Records owner Moe Asch. Originally a folk music label, Verve Forecast challenged standard record industry practice by developing long term careers instead of generating hit records. Verve Forecast attracted a new generation of talent which included The Blues Project, Richie Havens, Tim Hardin, Janis Ian, Laura Nyro, Jim and Jean, Friend & Lover, Caravan, The Hombres, and Bob Lind. Verve Forecast was first revived for smooth jazz releases in the 1990s, and was then revived in 2004 to handle the Verve Music Group’s non-jazz talent, replacing the revived Blue Thumb Records. (More from Wikipedia)
Janis Ian is a singer-songwriter who was only 13 when she wrote and recorded her first single about an interracial romance (perhaps the first song about that topic ever), “Society’s Child (Baby, I’ve Been Thinking)”. The history of this song is bathed in controversy, and “Society’s Child” was released three different times between 1965 and 1967; ultimately, the song reached #14 on the charts in the summer of 1967 and eventually sold 600,000 copies. Years later, the President of Atlantic Records, Jerry Wexler publicly apologized to Janis Ian for refusing to release the single and returning the master recording to her; “Society’s Child” finally came out on Verve Forecast Records.
(January 2014)
