Bob Thiele

Born: July 27, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York
Died: January 30, 1996 in Manhattan, New York.
American record producer and record label founder.

Married to Monica Lewis (1945-1947), Jane Harvey and Teresa Brewer.
Father of Bob Thiele Jr., who is also a record producer.

Thiele began his career with a jazz radio show at age 14. In 1939, aged 17, he created the Signature (4) label, which lasted until the late 1940s in its first incarnation (it would be revived several times), recording Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, and Lester Young amongst others. When that wound down he was headhunted by US Decca as A&R chief of Coral Records in the 1950s (it was Thiele who signed Buddy Holly); in 1961, he joined ABC-Paramount Records to run the Impulse! label after its creator Creed Taylor was hired away by MGM to run Verve Records; he was A&R chief and head producer for the label from 1962 until 1968, and formed his own record label Flying Dutchman soon after. Later he established Doctor Jazz, his final label was Red Baron, which folded not long after his death.

Thiele also was also a songwriter, bandleader, arranger and photographer. He is credited with co-writing "What A Wonderful World." Thiele wrote a memoir about his life in music, What A Wonderful World: A Lifetime Of Recordings, published by Oxford University Press on May 4, 1995. Also credited as photographer (Impulse Records).

Please Note: Productions released after 1996 (unless they are reissues of either full albums or individual songs) are most likely to be those of his son, as he's occasionally credited without the Jr. suffix.