At 17, he founded the
Signature label and recorded jazz musicians such as
Lester Young,
Erroll Garner and, in 1943,
Coleman Hawkins. Signature ceased activities in the late-1940s and Thiele joined American
Decca in 1952, running its
Coral subsidiary. His last wife was the singer
Teresa Brewer, whom he met and produced while working for Coral in the 1950s when he also produced Buddy Holly at the Texan's New York sessions at Bell Sound Studio, The Pythian Temple, plus the posthumous "Buddy Holly Story" album, and overdubbed singles. Thiele was head of the
Impulse! Records label from 1961 to 1969 after its originator
Creed Taylor left to run
Verve. While at Impulse, Thiele's best known association was with
John Coltrane, but he also recorded such artists as
Charles Mingus,
Duke Ellington,
Sonny Rollins,
Archie Shepp, and
Albert Ayler among others. His most successful hit song, "
What a Wonderful World", was co-written with
George David Weiss and recorded by
Louis Armstrong. According to Thiele's memoir, the recording session for the song was the scene of a major clash with
ABC Records president
Larry Newton, who had to be locked out of the studio after getting into a heated argument with Thiele over the song. "What a Wonderful World" was credited to George Douglas or Stanley Clayton. They are pseudonyms Thiele used, made from the names of his uncles, Stanley, Clayton, George, and Douglas. Thiele is credited as co-writer of a few other songs, none having anything remotely close to the success of "What a Wonderful World." In the late 1960s, Thiele was often brought in to produce artists on the company's
Bluesway label. He produced the albums that graduated
B.B. King toward the mainstream, including
Lucille (1967). He also produced BluesWay recordings by
John Lee Hooker,
T-Bone Walker, and others. After seven years with ABC Records, the parent of Impulse, Thiele formed his own company, Flying Dutchman Productions, in 1968. Thiele later formed his own record label,
Flying Dutchman, which is now part of
Sony Music Entertainment. Later in his career, Thiele formed the
Doctor Jazz label in 1983; it appears to have ceased trading around 1989 after Columbia was bought by
Sony. His
Red Baron label was apparently an entirely separate operation. Founded around 1991, Red Baron releases included several projects by the
Bob Thiele Collective, and previously unissued recordings by Duke Ellington and
Earl Hines, as well as reissues from other labels. In 1995, his memoir,
What a Wonderful World, was published. Red Baron folded soon after Thiele died in 1996. Thiele remained active in the music business until the end of his life, including the co-writing of the song "You," which was recorded by
Bonnie Raitt and appeared on her 1994 album,
Longing in Their Hearts. ==Death==