41 Facts About Brown Meggs

Brown Moore Meggs was an American writer and music executive with Capitol Records.

Brown Meggs started the music magazine TeenSet for Capitol in 1964, and founded Seraphim Records, a bargain label for classical music.

The Brown Meggs line was originally English, settling along the Saint Lawrence River.

Brown Meggs' father took film scripts home from Paramount Pictures to evaluate them with regard to art direction, and Brown Meggs eagerly read the scripts, preferring them to books.

Brown Meggs wanted to be a scriptwriter, though he played French horn and loved classical music.

Brown Meggs attended two private schools: first Black-Foxe Military Institute in Hollywood, then St Luke's in Connecticut.

Brown Meggs took college courses at California Institute of Technology and Harvard University, graduating in English.

Brown Meggs married Vassar-educated Boston socialite Nancy Bates Meachen on June 16,1954, in the Old South Church of Boston, with a reception at the Algonquin Club; they took a road trip across the continent for their honeymoon, to make their home in Pasadena.

The couple had one son there, Brook Meachen Brown Meggs, born on October 9,1956.

Brown Meggs joined Capitol Records, a subsidiary of EMI Records, in September 1958 as a manager of merchandising and promotion at the Los Angeles Capitol Records Building.

Brown Meggs signed an agreement between Angel and the Soviet label Melodiya, which allowed Angel to sell recordings of Soviet artists such as pianist Sviatoslav Richter and conductor Kirill Kondrashin.

In early November 1963, Brown Meggs met with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who played him a demo copy of the single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", recorded a few weeks earlier in London.

Brown Meggs promised Epstein that Capitol would mount a $40,000 promotional campaign in the states.

Brown Meggs and Fred Martin arranged the Beatles' transportation, lodging, security and schedule in February 1964 during their first visit to New York City and Miami.

Brown Meggs rode in the limousine with the Beatles, and accompanied them to press conferences.

Brown Meggs took the Beatles melody of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and composed a French horn solo piece titled "Variations on 'Komm, gib mir deine Hand'", which he performed in the classical style in a New York concert.

Brown Meggs conceived the idea of promoting Capitol artist the Beach Boys by way of a fan club magazine.

Brown Meggs began the project in March 1964, announcing the fan club formation, and in October 1964 the first issue of The Teen Set magazine was provided as a free insert to the live album Beach Boys Concert.

Brown Meggs was one of three vice presidents of CRDC, reporting to President Stan Gortikov.

Brown Meggs founded Seraphim Records in September 1966, to promote high-quality recordings of classical music, sold at bargain prices.

In 1967, Brown Meggs hired graphic artist John Van Hamersveld on the strength of his artwork for the surfer film poster The Endless Summer.

In 1971, Brown Meggs was promoted to worldwide marketing while still covering his old responsibilities in classical.

Brown Meggs streamlined the sales side by cutting away one layer of management, removing four division manager positions.

Brown Meggs accepted the position of president of Angel Records, with more autonomy as a separate division of Capitol.

Brown Meggs revived the label by reissuing its titles on Compact Disc.

Brown Meggs reworked Seraphim Records by stopping all vinyl pressings, the bargain titles released only on Compact Cassette.

Brown Meggs left Capitol for the last time in 1990 after his wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Brown Meggs wrote several non-fiction articles for magazines such as Esquire, True, and McCall's.

In 1958, Brown Meggs published an article about English race car driver Richard Seaman who drove for Mercedes Benz.

Brown Meggs' account appeared in the book Omnibus of Speed; a collection of short biographical pieces on race car drivers.

Brown Meggs co-directed the 30-minute color film with producer Fred Rice.

Brown Meggs had first submitted the book to mystery editor Barbara Norville of Bobbs-Merrill Company, but she returned the manuscript with suggestions for improvement.

Brown Meggs reworked the book and published through Random House for more money.

In 1981, Brown Meggs wrote a historic novel, The War Train, about American soldiers enduring a hellish train ride in March 1916 to Hachita, New Mexico, intending to cross the border and fight Pancho Villa in Mexico.

Brown Meggs took the kernel of the story from tales told by his step-grandfather who had been on the train.

In 1986, Brown Meggs wrote Two Fathers' Justice, a television drama film about two fathers reacting to the deaths of their son and daughter, and seeking justice.

Brown Meggs co-wrote the sequel, Two Fathers: Justice for the Innocent.

In 1959 or 1960, Brown Meggs' parents moved to Grass Valley, California, where his mother served on the city council.

Brown Meggs ran for state senator in 1964 as the "fighting grandma" or "battling grandmother" candidate but lost to Paul J Lunardi.

Brown Meggs first lived with his wife in Pasadena, then Detroit, returning to Greater Los Angeles, then New York City in 1962, moving to La Canada, California, in July 1964.

Brown Meggs moved to an apartment in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco where he died in 1997 from a brain hemorrhage.