Capricorn Records’ Frank Fenter gets a nod

Record company executives generally come in two contrasting flavors: as colorful and spotlight-hogging as the acts they sign, and those who, like the Wizard of Oz, would rather work from behind the curtain. Frank Fenter was the latter. But he left a great and powerful musical legacy that continues to influence musicians three decades after his death.

Fenter boasted an impressive and bulging résumé when he passed away suddenly in 1983 at the age of 47. The shortlist seems impossible for anyone younger than 50 to have accomplished in a single lifetime: concert promoter who masterminded the 1967 Stax European tour bringing Otis Redding, Booker T & the MG’s, and Sam & Dave to Europe; managing director for Atlantic Records in the U.K. (where he helped sign Yes, King Crimson, and Led Zeppelin); and perhaps most importantly, at least locally, co-founder of the legendary Capricorn Records label along with the far better-recognized brothers Phil and Alan Walden. Capricorn remains one of the most successful independent labels with multiplatinum sales, and Fenter was a major architect of that triumphant, genre-defining era.

Yet despite his impressive accomplishments and admiration from high-profile artists as well as other major-label honchos, Fenter hadn’t received sufficient credit or exposure for his notable endeavors. His stepson Rob Duner-Fenter went to work in an attempt to rectify that situation. In 2010 he began a one-man campaign to get his stepfather long overdue recognition, initially by being inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. “It was a four-year project,” Duner-Fenter says. “I had always known that at some point I would want to get him duly recognized for his huge contributions to Southern rock and popular music in general, particularly in light of the fact he had died so young. Over the 30-some years since his passing, he became a footnote to music history. As his only son, I found that very frustrating.” Four years later (“it wasn’t a matter of if he would be inducted, it was a matter of when ... there were a few people ahead of him”) his efforts were rewarded.

Frank Fenter was finally welcomed into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on Oct. 11, 2014, awarding him the permanent music legacy he clearly deserved.

By all accounts Fenter’s life was one wild, unpredictable ride. Born and raised in South Africa, he moved to London during the swinging ’60s. After his successes at Atlantic, he turned down a plum executive job in New York City to move to comparatively sleepy Macon and start Capricorn from scratch. That’s the kind of life gamble most businessmen would never have risked. But Fenter was not your usual executive gray suit taking the well-trodden path up the corporate ladder. His track record promoting diverse, some may say contrasting, styles of music — the artsy, progressive approach of Yes and King Crimson versus the raw, soulful roots of Southern rock — showed him to be a particularly savvy entrepreneur who recognized talented artists and brought out the best in them, regardless of whether they wore torn jeans or shiny satin pants.

Duner-Fenter learned even more when he met his stepfather’s peers, 60 of whom came to Macon in October to pay tribute to a man they respected and loved, and not just for his professional acumen. “It was honoring to hear about his integrity,” Duner-Fenter says. “Someone made the comment that he had a backbone of steel.”

He was also humble, an anomaly in a business that doesn’t reward that approach. That played into his under-the-radar status. “He was a brilliant marketer of getting music to the public,” Duner-Fenter says. “He not only had the ears, but the promotional skill set.”

At Capricorn, the elder Fenter made the perfect yin and yang companion for Phil Walden. “They had complementary talents,” Duner-Fenter says. “Each couldn’t have done what they did without the other. Phil had a background in artist management, my dad’s was more in running a record company. They formed this powerhouse partnership.”

Is this only the beginning? How about going big and getting Fenter into the hallowed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? “It’s not out of the question,” Duner-Fenter says. “His impact was not just on music coming from the South but from all over the world, particularly from Britain. He deserves a place there at some point in the future.”

But not quite yet. “Based on the effort it took for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, I’ll wait a little bit on that,” he laughs.