Ilene Berns

Ilene Berns (born Ilene Holub, May 1, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio – February 20, 2017 in Miami, Florida) was a record company director.

Berns worked as a go-go dancer in New York City nightclubs before meeting her husband Bert Berns, the songwriter and record producer and founder of Bang Records. Together they had three children (Brett, Cassandra and Mark) before Bert died of heart failure on December 30, 1967.

A widow at the age of twenty-four Berns set out to carry on her late husband's legacy. After re-releasing material from such Bang Records artists as Van Morrison and Neil Diamond, she discovered Mississippi singer/songwriter Paul Davis. She relocated Bang Records to Atlanta, Georgia in 1970 and presided over a decade of success with Paul Davis ("Ride 'Em Cowboy", "I Go Crazy", "Sweet Life"); she also signed and developed Atlanta-based R&B funk group Brick ("Dazz") and singer/songwriter Peabo Bryson.

Berns sold Bang Records to Columbia Records in 1979 - leaving a legacy fulfilled by few women in the record business. The Berns family kept the music publishing operations (Web IV Music and Sloopy II Music), which are currently run by one of her sons, Brett Berns.

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