Gallery.
Rick knows the music business from the inside out, from 1970’s until today.
1971 - A million radio performances for “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of The Bay”. BMI director of writer publisher relations Rick Sanjek presents Steve Cropper (co-writer with Otis Redding) and Jim Stewart (East Memphis Music/Stax Records) with BMI “Million-aire” certificates.
1972 - Atlantic Records hires Rick Sanjek to open country music division. (l to r): Neshui Ertegun (chairman, WEA International). Ahmet Ertegun (chairman, Atlantic Records), Rick Sanjek, Jerry Wexler (executive VP, Atlantic Records). Willie Nelson was their first signing. (Photographer: William “PoPsie” Randolph)
1974 - Terry Stafford session at Jack Clement Recording Studios. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (A&R director, Atlantic Country), John Fisher (Atlantic Country promotion), Terry Stafford, Earl Ball (producer), Charlie Tallent (engineer). Seated: Bergen White (arranger). (Photographer: Slick Lawson)
1975 - Nashville Songwriters Association (NSA) certificate of appreciation. NSA president Ron Peterson presents Rick Sanjek with certificate of appreciation for fund-raising efforts on behalf of the NSA.
1985 – Like a Rhinestone Cowboy. Rick Sanjek donned Porter Wagoner’s Nudie original while directing the T.C. Roberts music video “The Night Porter Wagoner Came To Town” which reached #5 on Country Music Television (CMT) playlist.
1986 - Rick Sanjek rejoins BMI in the New York office.
1986 – BMI’s Rick Sanjek and Mark Fried backstage with R.E.M. (l to r) Sanjek, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, Fried, Michael Stipe. As a member of the Grammy awards and nominations committee, Sanjek advocated for creation of the Best Alternative Music Grammy, won by R.E.M. in 1992. Fried designed and implemented BMI’s first ever college radio royalty distribution. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1987 - EMI America artist Becky Hobbs visits New York City’s WHN. (l to r) Rick Sanjek, Becky Hobbs, Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee Lee Arnold of WHN, road manager/guitarist Don London. At the time, Arnold was the most listened to country music DJ in America.
1987 – “In The Midnight Hour” passes a million radio plays. Rick Sanjek presents Wilson Pickett with a BMI “Million-aire” certificate for “In The Midnight Hour”. Standing: (l to r) Sanjek, Pickett, bassist Duck Dunn, pianist Paul Schaffer. Seated: Guitarist/Pickett’s co-writer Steve Cropper.
1988 - Music Speaks Louder Than Words copyright summit in Moscow. Standing (l to r): Ande Pӓivӓlӓinen (MSLTW), Dr. Stephen Rhinesmith (American Field Service Intercultural Programs), Alexander Repalov (VAAP), Rick Sanjek (BMI), Kevin Odegard (National Academy of Songwriters), Svetlana Mikhailova (VAAP), Nikolai Popov (VAAP), Sergei Semenov (VAAP). Seated (l to r): Robyn Whitney (MSLTW), Alan Roy Scott (MSLTW), Valery Ivanov (VAAP), Jody Graham-Dunitz (Manatt, Phelps & Phillips). (Photographer: Marc B. Blake)
1988 - Music Speaks Louder Than Words press conference in New York. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (BMI), Holly Greene (Jobete Music), Don Grierson (senior VP/A&R Epic Records), and songwriters Michael Bolton, Desmond Child, Holly Knight, Todd Cerney, and Diane Warren. (Photographer: Gary Gershoff)
1989 - Holiday cheer at Tavern on the Green. BMI executives and wives at the company Christmas party. Standing (l to r): Marvin Berenson, Rick Sanjek, Robbin Ahrold, Gloria Berenson, Ekke Schnabel. Seated: Bobby Weinstein, president/CEO Frances Preston, Kyle Ahrold. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1990 - US/USSR Songwriter Summit Album released. (I to r) Rick Sanjek, USSR songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky, and USSR pop star/songwriter Igor Nikolayev holding copies of the “Music Speaks Louder Than Words” CD album released on Epic Records.
1990 - Country star and old friend Eddie Rabbitt visits BMI New York. (l to r): Charlie Feldman (BMI), Mark Fried (BMI), Eddie Rabbitt, and Rick Sanjek. (Photographer: Gary Gershoff)
1990 - New York NARAS Chapter A&R Honors luncheon. (l to r): Stu Ginsberg (chapter president), Rick Sanjek (chapter trustee), Mike Greene (national president/CEO), Milt Gabler (former Honors recipient), George Simon (recipient of 1990 Russ Sanjek Award), Nile Rodgers (1990 Honors recipient), Arif Mardin (1990 Honors recipient), Jack Maher (former chapter president), Jack Pfieffer (1990 Honors recipient), Billy Taylor (pianist/ composer), Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records). (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
1991 - Voice of Asia music festival, Kazakhstan. Jury Members (l to r): Rosalie Goldstein (Canada); Raimo Henriksson (Finland); Rick Sanjek; Tim Wipperman, Warner Chappell Music (USA); Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell (UK); Hans Thomas (Germany); and composer/arranger Pete Rugolo (USA).
1990 - Hits magazine (with Gorbachev on cover) on display in Red Square. (l to r): USSR concert impresario Stas Namin, Rick Sanjek, and songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky.
1991 - Reading Hits magazine in Yalta, Crimea. (l to r) USSR songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky, USSR/Latvian pop star Laima Vaikule, Rick Sanjek.
1991 - On Willie Nelson’s “Honeysuckle Rose” tour bus. Rick Sanjek and Willie Nelson holding just-released copies of Willie’s "The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories” album.
1991 - First meeting of the top executives from all four North American PROs. In SOCAN’s Toronto office. Standing (l to r): Joaquin Fernandez (SESAC), Paul Adler (ASCAP), Paul Spurgeon (SOCAN), Vince Candilora (SESAC), Del Bryant (BMI), Michael Rock (SOCAN), Victor Perkins (SOCAN), Rick Sanjek BMI), Andy Gurwitch (ASCAP). Seated (l to r): Morton Gould (ASCAP), Gloria Messenger (ASCAP), Jan Matejcek (SOCAN), Frances Preston (BMI), Lou Applebaum (SESAC). (Courtesy SOCAN archives)
1993 - Return from Romania. Rick Sanjek and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) executive director Pat Rogers, co-organizers of the Country & Eastern songwriter collaboration in Romania, share a bottle of Romanian wine with NSAI president/hall of fame songwriter Richard Leigh at Nashville’s Sunset Grill.
1992 - Announcing the Grammy nominees at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. (l to r:) Emcee Rick Sanjek; six-time nominee Bryan Adams; nominee Cy Coleman; Ben E. King; nominees Robert Clivilles and David Cole of C &C Music Factory; Kathleen Battle; New York Mayor David Dinkins; Dizzy Gillespie; Nona Hendryx; Eddie Palmieri. The Grammy Awards show was held a month later in New York’s Radio City Music Hall. (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
1996 - Nashville Booth at the Midem trade show, Cannes France. Laureate Records’ Alex Harvey, songwriters James Dean Hicks and Trey Bruce, and booth co-organizer Rick Sanjek, welcoming Midem delegates to bottles of Budweiser and shots of Jack Daniels under the Nashville Skyline booth décor.
1999 – “The Love Generation” goes Gold. This four-CD, 67-track compilation of hits from the 1960s produced by Rick Sanjek and Charles McCutcheon sold over half a million units in Europe via infomercials. Their other TV compilation packages included “Mega Country”, “Shades of Country”, and “The Rock & Roll Generation”.
2003 – Nu-Sound Records signs for distribution with Madacy. Rick Sanjek (licensing consultant), Melvin Couch (Nu-Sound), and Bob Gurich (Madacy Entertainment) signing multi-album agreement.
2008 – “The Outlaw Trail” on Public TV/HDNet. Rick Sanjek served as co-writer, music supervisor, and co-wrote the theme song with bandleader John Bohlinger. Featured story songs of the Old West. Performers included Ray Benson/Asleep at the Wheel, Jessi Colter, Rodney Crowell, and Carlene Carter. Pictured above (l to r): Joe Ely, Ray Scott, and music director Jamie Oldaker. (courtesy of Charlie Boy Multi Media LLC)
2012 - Let’s All Help The Cowboy Sing The Blues. Rick Sanjek’s last visit with friend and mentor Cowboy Jack Clement, legendary Sun Records producer/engineer and inductee to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
2013 – “Shuffleton’s Barbershop” (a/k/a “A Way Back Home”) Hallmark movie. Rick Sanjek was hired by producer Mitchell Galin as music supervisor, and after reading John Wilder’s script, started writing a song, “The First Time”, which he finished with Steve Azar. Pictured above, Kayla Ewell and Austin Stowell performing “The First Time” in the film’s closing scene. (Courtesy of Bruce D. Johnson/Foxfield Entertainment LLC).
2024 – Rick Sanjek shares his new book American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age with guitar legend and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Steve Cropper and award-winning singer/songwriter, Mississippi Music and Cultural Ambassador, and host of the In A Mississippi Minute syndicated radio show/podcast Steve Azar. (Photographer: Gwen Azar)
2024 – Rick Sanjek presents a copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age to New York University/Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s Music Business Program Director Larry Miller. (l to r): Sanjek holding a copy of American Popular Music and its Business: The First Four Hundred Years Volume III, already in Miller’s book collection, Judy Tint, NYU/Steinhardt Clinical Associate Professor of Music Business, Miller holding his new copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1971 - A million radio performances for “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of The Bay”. BMI director of writer publisher relations Rick Sanjek presents Steve Cropper (co-writer with Otis Redding) and Jim Stewart (East Memphis Music/Stax Records) with BMI “Million-aire” certificates.
1972 - Atlantic Records hires Rick Sanjek to open country music division. (l to r): Neshui Ertegun (chairman, WEA International). Ahmet Ertegun (chairman, Atlantic Records), Rick Sanjek, Jerry Wexler (executive VP, Atlantic Records). Willie Nelson was their first signing. (Photographer: William “PoPsie” Randolph)
1974 - Terry Stafford session at Jack Clement Recording Studios. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (A&R director, Atlantic Country), John Fisher (Atlantic Country promotion), Terry Stafford, Earl Ball (producer), Charlie Tallent (engineer). Seated: Bergen White (arranger). (Photographer: Slick Lawson)
1975 - Nashville Songwriters Association (NSA) certificate of appreciation. NSA president Ron Peterson presents Rick Sanjek with certificate of appreciation for fund-raising efforts on behalf of the NSA.
1985 – Like a Rhinestone Cowboy. Rick Sanjek donned Porter Wagoner’s Nudie original while directing the T.C. Roberts music video “The Night Porter Wagoner Came To Town” which reached #5 on Country Music Television (CMT) playlist.
1986 - Rick Sanjek rejoins BMI in the New York office.
1986 – BMI’s Rick Sanjek and Mark Fried backstage with R.E.M. (l to r) Sanjek, Mike Mills, Peter Buck, Bill Berry, Fried, Michael Stipe. As a member of the Grammy awards and nominations committee, Sanjek advocated for creation of the Best Alternative Music Grammy, won by R.E.M. in 1992. Fried designed and implemented BMI’s first ever college radio royalty distribution. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1987 - EMI America artist Becky Hobbs visits New York City’s WHN. (l to r) Rick Sanjek, Becky Hobbs, Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee Lee Arnold of WHN, road manager/guitarist Don London. At the time, Arnold was the most listened to country music DJ in America.
1987 – “In The Midnight Hour” passes a million radio plays. Rick Sanjek presents Wilson Pickett with a BMI “Million-aire” certificate for “In The Midnight Hour”. Standing: (l to r) Sanjek, Pickett, bassist Duck Dunn, pianist Paul Schaffer. Seated: Guitarist/Pickett’s co-writer Steve Cropper.
1988 - Music Speaks Louder Than Words copyright summit in Moscow. Standing (l to r): Ande Pӓivӓlӓinen (MSLTW), Dr. Stephen Rhinesmith (American Field Service Intercultural Programs), Alexander Repalov (VAAP), Rick Sanjek (BMI), Kevin Odegard (National Academy of Songwriters), Svetlana Mikhailova (VAAP), Nikolai Popov (VAAP), Sergei Semenov (VAAP). Seated (l to r): Robyn Whitney (MSLTW), Alan Roy Scott (MSLTW), Valery Ivanov (VAAP), Jody Graham-Dunitz (Manatt, Phelps & Phillips). (Photographer: Marc B. Blake)
1988 - Music Speaks Louder Than Words press conference in New York. (l to r): Rick Sanjek (BMI), Holly Greene (Jobete Music), Don Grierson (senior VP/A&R Epic Records), and songwriters Michael Bolton, Desmond Child, Holly Knight, Todd Cerney, and Diane Warren. (Photographer: Gary Gershoff)
1989 - Holiday cheer at Tavern on the Green. BMI executives and wives at the company Christmas party. Standing (l to r): Marvin Berenson, Rick Sanjek, Robbin Ahrold, Gloria Berenson, Ekke Schnabel. Seated: Bobby Weinstein, president/CEO Frances Preston, Kyle Ahrold. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
1990 - US/USSR Songwriter Summit Album released. (I to r) Rick Sanjek, USSR songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky, and USSR pop star/songwriter Igor Nikolayev holding copies of the “Music Speaks Louder Than Words” CD album released on Epic Records.
1990 - Country star and old friend Eddie Rabbitt visits BMI New York. (l to r): Charlie Feldman (BMI), Mark Fried (BMI), Eddie Rabbitt, and Rick Sanjek. (Photographer: Gary Gershoff)
1990 - New York NARAS Chapter A&R Honors luncheon. (l to r): Stu Ginsberg (chapter president), Rick Sanjek (chapter trustee), Mike Greene (national president/CEO), Milt Gabler (former Honors recipient), George Simon (recipient of 1990 Russ Sanjek Award), Nile Rodgers (1990 Honors recipient), Arif Mardin (1990 Honors recipient), Jack Maher (former chapter president), Jack Pfieffer (1990 Honors recipient), Billy Taylor (pianist/ composer), Ahmet Ertegun (Atlantic Records). (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
1991 - Voice of Asia music festival, Kazakhstan. Jury Members (l to r): Rosalie Goldstein (Canada); Raimo Henriksson (Finland); Rick Sanjek; Tim Wipperman, Warner Chappell Music (USA); Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell (UK); Hans Thomas (Germany); and composer/arranger Pete Rugolo (USA).
1990 - Hits magazine (with Gorbachev on cover) on display in Red Square. (l to r): USSR concert impresario Stas Namin, Rick Sanjek, and songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky.
1991 - Reading Hits magazine in Yalta, Crimea. (l to r) USSR songwriter/film composer Vladimir Matetsky, USSR/Latvian pop star Laima Vaikule, Rick Sanjek.
1991 - On Willie Nelson’s “Honeysuckle Rose” tour bus. Rick Sanjek and Willie Nelson holding just-released copies of Willie’s "The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories” album.
1991 - First meeting of the top executives from all four North American PROs. In SOCAN’s Toronto office. Standing (l to r): Joaquin Fernandez (SESAC), Paul Adler (ASCAP), Paul Spurgeon (SOCAN), Vince Candilora (SESAC), Del Bryant (BMI), Michael Rock (SOCAN), Victor Perkins (SOCAN), Rick Sanjek BMI), Andy Gurwitch (ASCAP). Seated (l to r): Morton Gould (ASCAP), Gloria Messenger (ASCAP), Jan Matejcek (SOCAN), Frances Preston (BMI), Lou Applebaum (SESAC). (Courtesy SOCAN archives)
1993 - Return from Romania. Rick Sanjek and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) executive director Pat Rogers, co-organizers of the Country & Eastern songwriter collaboration in Romania, share a bottle of Romanian wine with NSAI president/hall of fame songwriter Richard Leigh at Nashville’s Sunset Grill.
1992 - Announcing the Grammy nominees at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. (l to r:) Emcee Rick Sanjek; six-time nominee Bryan Adams; nominee Cy Coleman; Ben E. King; nominees Robert Clivilles and David Cole of C &C Music Factory; Kathleen Battle; New York Mayor David Dinkins; Dizzy Gillespie; Nona Hendryx; Eddie Palmieri. The Grammy Awards show was held a month later in New York’s Radio City Music Hall. (Photographer: Chuck Pulin)
1996 - Nashville Booth at the Midem trade show, Cannes France. Laureate Records’ Alex Harvey, songwriters James Dean Hicks and Trey Bruce, and booth co-organizer Rick Sanjek, welcoming Midem delegates to bottles of Budweiser and shots of Jack Daniels under the Nashville Skyline booth décor.
1999 – “The Love Generation” goes Gold. This four-CD, 67-track compilation of hits from the 1960s produced by Rick Sanjek and Charles McCutcheon sold over half a million units in Europe via infomercials. Their other TV compilation packages included “Mega Country”, “Shades of Country”, and “The Rock & Roll Generation”.
2003 – Nu-Sound Records signs for distribution with Madacy. Rick Sanjek (licensing consultant), Melvin Couch (Nu-Sound), and Bob Gurich (Madacy Entertainment) signing multi-album agreement.
2008 – “The Outlaw Trail” on Public TV/HDNet. Rick Sanjek served as co-writer, music supervisor, and co-wrote the theme song with bandleader John Bohlinger. Featured story songs of the Old West. Performers included Ray Benson/Asleep at the Wheel, Jessi Colter, Rodney Crowell, and Carlene Carter. Pictured above (l to r): Joe Ely, Ray Scott, and music director Jamie Oldaker. (courtesy of Charlie Boy Multi Media LLC)
2012 - Let’s All Help The Cowboy Sing The Blues. Rick Sanjek’s last visit with friend and mentor Cowboy Jack Clement, legendary Sun Records producer/engineer and inductee to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame.
2013 – “Shuffleton’s Barbershop” (a/k/a “A Way Back Home”) Hallmark movie. Rick Sanjek was hired by producer Mitchell Galin as music supervisor, and after reading John Wilder’s script, started writing a song, “The First Time”, which he finished with Steve Azar. Pictured above, Kayla Ewell and Austin Stowell performing “The First Time” in the film’s closing scene. (Courtesy of Bruce D. Johnson/Foxfield Entertainment LLC).
2024 – Rick Sanjek shares his new book American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age with guitar legend and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Steve Cropper and award-winning singer/songwriter, Mississippi Music and Cultural Ambassador, and host of the In A Mississippi Minute syndicated radio show/podcast Steve Azar. (Photographer: Gwen Azar)
2024 – Rick Sanjek presents a copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age to New York University/Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development’s Music Business Program Director Larry Miller. (l to r): Sanjek holding a copy of American Popular Music and its Business: The First Four Hundred Years Volume III, already in Miller’s book collection, Judy Tint, NYU/Steinhardt Clinical Associate Professor of Music Business, Miller holding his new copy of American Popular Music and its Business in the Digital Age. (Photographer: Larry Busacca)
****Photographs were all taken from author’s collection and photographer cited when known. Any identification of unknown photographers will be added if supplied.****