Roméo Beaudry
| Roméo Beaudry | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Louis Roméo Beaudry |
| Born |
February 25, 1882 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | May 6, 1932 (aged 50) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer |
Louis Roméo Beaudry (February 25, 1882 – May 6, 1932) was a French Canadian author, composer, pianist and record producer, who established Éditions Radio and served as the director general of the Starr Records company of Canada as a music producer. As a composer Beaudry wrote more than 75 songs which went on to be recorded.
Born in Montreal, Beaudry grew up primarily in Quebec City. After finishing his schooling at the Quebec Seminary in 1900, he obtained a job at the National Bank of Canada. Beaudry soon left that job to become a partner in his father's music store, Willis Piano Company.
In 1912 Beaudry obtained a sales representative job with Starr Records which required him to move to Montreal. While in Montreal he obtained a job as a music critic for La Patrie as well.
In 1915, the Columbia Graphophone Company of New York requested that Beaudry put them into contact with Québécois artists in the hopes they could obtain French language music for their francophone customers in New England. Beaudry did so, and Jean-Marie Magnan, Joseph-Henri Thibodeau, Hector Pellerin, François-Xavier Mercier, Damase DuBuisson, Alfred Nohcor and Honoré Vaillancourt all recorded with Columbia as a result of these efforts.
In 1918, the Starr Piano Company of Richmond, Indiana set up a Canadian branch named the Starr Company of Canada. Beaudry was hired as the director general of the company on the strength of his existing relationship with the Starr company and his knowledge of music and musicians in Quebec. During that time, he became a close business associate with Herbert Berliner. In 1919, Beaudry awarded the contract for pressing records from Starr's subsidiary Gennett Records for all of Canada to Berliner's Compo pressing factory. In 1920, he founded Starr Phonograph of Quebec which used Berliner's recording studios to record francophone artists under the Gennett label. Berliner formed a new record company in 1921, first called Sun, but quickly renamed Apex Records, which began producing records for the Starr 12000 series in July 1921. Apex began selling records at 65¢ each, and with the same production Starr also sold records at 65¢ each. The other major record sellers in Quebec, Columbia and His Master's Voice, priced their records at 85¢. This competitive pricing scheme led to the Quebec music market being dominated by Starr.
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