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British soundtrack producer and compiler.
British-born music historian Alan Warner has been in the music industry his entire working life, first with EMI Records beginning in 1961. He later became label manager for United Artists Records in their London office before transferring to the label’s Los Angeles headquarters in 1976. Drawing on his love of vintage movies, he produced a series of successful soundtrack records for UA including “The Golden Age Of The Hollywood Musical” containing previously unissued tracks from Warner Bros’ Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930’s. He also issued a single of “The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine” as sung in a 1937 Hal Roach film by Laurel & Hardy and it reached #2 on the British charts in December ‘75. Warner went independent in ‘79 and began consulting for United Artists Music Publishing in Hollywood. He then created an entirely novel way of promoting vintage song copyrights to record producers, music supervisors
and ad agencies via Discography Trade Books which he wrote and compiled for EMI, Warner/Chappell, MCA and Peer Music. Warner was also creative consultant for EMI, Warner/Chappell and Sony/ATV during which time he recorded interviews with such writers and artists as Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Kenny Gamble & Léon Huff, Gerry Goffin, Lamont Dozier, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Neil Sedaka, Allen Toussaint, Dave Bartholomew, Margaret Whiting and Charles Brown; these interviews were used as promotional tools and were distributed worldwide. Over the years, Warner produced hundreds of commercial compilation albums including a ‘Rock Of Ages’ series for Capitol Records plus ‘The Sue Records Story’ box-set and the ‘Crescent City Soul’ 4-CD set both for EMI. Warner has always believed in documenting musical history and wrote three commercial books namely “Celluloid Rock” (co-authored with the BBC’s Philip Jenkinson) plus “Who Sang What On The Screen” and “Who Sang What In Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Now retired and living with his wife Pat in their Hollywood Hills home, Warner began “The Door To Yesterday” website on which he continues to write about music and motion pictures.