Irving Green, the co-founder of Mercury Records who helped break color barriers in popular music while turning his small independent company into one of the music industry's major labels, has died. He was 90.

Green, who had a successful second career in real estate development, died Saturday of natural causes at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif., said his grandson, Jonathan Ross.

Founded in Chicago in 1944 by Green, Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge, Mercury Records quickly rose to prominence by using an alternative form of promotion to make hit records.

Instead of depending on radio airplay to promote new releases as did the major labels, Green used the distributors of jukeboxes to spur interest in new releases: Record buyers would first hear a new Mercury record on the jukebox rather than the radio.
"It was a cheaper alternative means for artists to become popular," said Ross. "That alternative route quickly got Mercury up to the level of the existing powerhouses."

Mercury, which was known for signing regional bands and singers, became a major force in jazz and blues, classical music and pop.

Born Feb. 6, 1916, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Green grew up on the poor West Side of Chicago. He attended St. John's University for two years but dropped out to work during the Depression.
In 1952, Green and five other record industry chief executives formed the Recording Industry Association of America, whose mission was to "foster a business and legal climate that supports and promotes its members' creativity and financial vitality."

As a record producer and distributor, Green was known for allowing artists to own their copyrights.
After Green sold Mercury in the late 1960s, his grandson said, he continued to run the label for five more years. He then turned his hobby of building homes into a second career.

In addition to Ross, Green is survived by his wife, Pamela; a daughter, Roberta Hunt; two other grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

strange but that piece does not mention In 1964, Mercury became the first major label to have a high-level executive who was black when Mr Green hired the trumpeter Quincy Jones as vice president.also strange is the fact about the real estate.he started building houses successfully in Iraq.maybe they don't want us knowing that for some reason...R.I.P