Remembering Harold Childs
• We were saddened to learn of the passing of yet another beloved industry icon — promo legend Harold Childs, whose remarkable 50-year career included influential executive positions at A&M, PolyGram, Qwest and Warner Bros. Records, died after a battle with leukemia on Sunday, Aug. 27 at the age of 80. Childs’ death comes only 11 days after the passing of his former boss, A&M Records’ co-Founder Jerry Moss, who died Aug. 16.
As chronicled in Billboard by our friend and former colleague Gail Mitchell, Billboard‘s Executive Director, R&B/Hip-Hop, Childs memorably broke through industry barriers in the ’70s as a Black man overseeing pop music promotion at A&M Records. Childs originally joined A&M in 1969 as National Sales and Promotion Director for its CTI (Creed Taylor International) imprint, based in New York.
Childs relocated to Los Angeles in 1971 and was elevated to VP of Promotion in 1974 and SVP of Promotion and Sales in 1978, playing an integral role in A&M’s evolution as one of the industry’s leading independent labels in the ’70s and ’80s. He and his team broke projects from The Carpenters, Cat Stevens, the Captain & Tennille, Peter Frampton, Supertramp, The Brothers Johnson, Styx, Joe Jackson, The Police, Human League and George Harrison‘s A&M-distributed Dark Horse Records.
One member of Childs’ team at A&M was RAMP‘s Steve Resnik, who fondly recalls his days working for Childs, noting, “Charlie Minor and I were both hired by Harold and joined A&M Records on the same day in June of 1980. We worked for Harold, and he answered to Jerry Moss. I guess it’s ironic that we lost our two amazing bosses over the last two weeks. Two fantastic record men, and two all around wonderful guys who were born exactly eight years apart — they shared May 8th as their birthday.”
Childs left A&M in 1984 and joined PolyGram as Senior VP, followed by a stint as President of Quincy Jones‘ Qwest Records. Childs went on to head the Jazz promotion department at Warner Bros. Records, working with a roster that included Al Jarreau, David Sanborn and George Benson, who began his career with Childs at CTI. Donations in memory of Harold Childs may be made to The United Negro College Fund. [Photo credit: Tom Vickers / Special thanks to Gail Mitchell]
