Bang Records - Death of Berns

Death of Berns

When Berns died suddenly on December 30, 1967, as a result of a rheumatic heart condition, his wife Ilene Berns took over management. She believed that arguments with Van Morrison had been the cause of her husband's death, and made things difficult for the Irish artist until Warner Brothers managed to untangle him from the Bang contract, though with some awkward conditions, such as giving Bang three original recordings a month for a year. Others in the industry blame arguments, artistic differences, and the ultimate loss of Neil Diamond, who was Bang's biggest artist. Diamond has said his departure from Bang had been over his direction as an artist, and away from his early "teenybopper" type of recordings that Berns favored, which led to Berns' refusal to release the more introspective "Shilo" as a single, even though Diamond felt it was part of his development as an artist. Shortly after what was said to be a "tense" confrontation with Berns, Diamond departed Bang for Uni/MCA Records in 1968. By 1970, a few years after Berns' death, Diamond had racked up a few hits on the Uni subsidiary of MCA. That year, Bang finally released "Shilo" as a single, which promptly hit the Top 40 charts. Berns' young widow signed singer/songwriter Paul Davis, who had a number of hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, including songs such as "Ride 'Em Cowboy", "I Go Crazy", "Sweet Life", and "Do Right". Ilene Berns also signed and developed R&B acts Brick ("Dazz") and Peabo Bryson. Also in 1970, Ilene hired promotion man Eddie Biscoe to help run Bang Records. They eventually married.