Jac Holzman came up with the idea for Elektra Records in his college dorm room in 1948. 

He started recording folk music and Baroque songs and went on to discover the Doors and Judy Collins. He represented Queen in America. He sold his company to Warner Communications. 

Jac told my son and I the story four years ago when we visited his Santa Monica apartment. He kept his Grammy on the piano and his collection of antique recording gear in his office loft. 

It was an incredible tale that included many life lessons:

–Be open to seize opportunities 

–Pay attention to what people need

–Take big chances, but never risk it all

It started with Holzman at college. He heard a soprano perform poems by Rilke and e.e. Cummings to music composed by John Gruen. He thought it would be a fantastic recording. The name Elektra was inspired by a figure in Greek mythology which he learned at St. John’s College. 

He dropped out of school and spent ten years building a moderately successful business focused on the jazz and folk music he loved. A typical album: Theodore Bikel: Songs of a Russian Gypsy. 

In the early 1960s he came up with an idea that propelled the company: he realized that radio stations needed sound effects, so he recorded 13 discs of sounds ranging from a doorbell to boiling water to a car crash. 

He paid only $5 per sound and there were no royalties. He sold more than a million units. 

He described recording the car crash in a history of Elektra called Follow the Music: “We drove to Long Island and slicked down an out-of-the-way dead-end street and repeatedly skidded a junker car.” He then smashed the car in a junkyard. It was hugely popular.

He used the money to take risks on unknown artists and in 1966 it led to the biggest coup of his career. One day he flew to Los Angeles, landing in the evening and heading straight to the Whiskey a Go Go to see a band. He was encouraged to stick around for the next act. 

It was the Doors. Jac said that Jim Morrison “did nothing” for him at first, but he saw potential. 

The story Jac wanted to tell us wasn’t about discovering the Doors, but signing them. 

Others wanted to represent the band, but Jac paid enough attention to know the group was worried about being dropped after one record. He offered a guaranteed three album deal. It came with $5,000 up front and five percent royalties, an amount keyboardist Ray Manzark described as “heinous.” 

He landed Queen in America in a similar way, by handing them a signed check before they agreed to any deal. It was a good faith offer. Freddie Mercury could have cashed it and walked, but he didn’t. It won their trust. 

You have to take big risks in life, he said. 

“But don’t bet everything. Make sure you set aside something to stay in the game.”