Irving Green

[3] He was instrumental in promoting African-American artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington and the Platters.

In 1945, he founded Mercury Records, in Chicago, Illinois, along with Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge, and helped turn the independent outfit into a major label.

In 1962, Green sold Mercury to Consolidated Electronics Industries Corporation (Conelco) an American affiliate of Dutch electronics giant Philips of the Netherlands but he remained Mercury Records' President.

[4] Green died on July 1, 2006, at the Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California.

[4] He is buried in Desert Memorial Park[1] in Cathedral City, California.