Howie Richmond R.I.P.

HOWIE RICHMOND, 94, legendary music publisher, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA, on Sunday, May 20. His TKO company, one of the most successful music publishers for more than 60 years, controlled a catalog of songs by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Lionel Bart, Pete Townshend, David Bowie and Bricusse/ Newley, among others. Key songs in the TKO catalog include such classics as "This Land Is Your Land," "If I Had a Hammer," "We Shall Overcome." " Goodnight, Irene," "Tom Dooley," "Who Can I Turn To," "Fly Me to the Moon," "My Generation," "Space Oddity," "Whiter Shade of Pale," and "Bang a Gong (Get It On)." In 1969, together with Johnny Mercer and Abe Olman, Richmond co-founded the National Academy of Popular Music and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame (songhall.org) to honor songwriters for their lifetime contributions to popular music. Richmond received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s first Music Publisher of the Year Award in 1983. (5/29a)