{{Short description|American country music executive (1922–2013)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jim Fogelsong | image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = | caption = | birth_name = James Staton Foglesong | birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|7|26}} | birth_place = [[Lundale, West Virginia|Lundale]], [[West Virginia]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|7|9|1922|7|26}} | death_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Tennessee]], U.S. | occupation = [[Country music]] executive | years_active = 1951-2012 | known_for = President of [[Dot Records|Dot]], [[ABC Records|ABC]], [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] and [[MCA Records]] }} '''James Staton Foglesong''' (July 26, 1922 &ndash; July 9, 2013) was an American [[country music]] producer and executive from the 1950s until the 1990s, based in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite web|author= Talbott, Chris |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/celebrities/ci_23626380/jim-foglesong-label-exec-hall-famer-dies |title=Jim Foglesong, label exec, hall of famer, dies |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |work=[[San Jose Mercury News]] |date=July 9, 2013 |accessdate=July 10, 2013}}</ref>

==Biography== Foglesong was born in [[Lundale, West Virginia]].<ref name=Jim/> As a teenager, he sang on a local radio show and in quartets and trios into his young adult years. He began his career in the music industry at [[Columbia Records]]' [[record label|label]] in 1951, transferring [[Gramophone record#78 rpm disc developments|78 RPM]] records into [[LP record|LP]] formats.<ref name=Jim/> Over the next 20 years, he worked for [[RCA Records#Beginnings and history|RCA-Victor]] until moving to Nashville in 1970 to head the [[Artists and repertoire|A&R]] division at [[Dot Records]]. He was named president of Dot in 1973 — the only president of a major Nashville label at the time, where he changed the company's vision from [[Pop music|pop]] to country.<ref name=Jim/>

He helped lay the foundation for the country music boom in the 1990s. As president of Dot, [[ABC Records|ABC]], [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] and [[MCA Records]], he signed popular artists, among them [[Barbara Mandrell]], [[Don Williams]], [[Garth Brooks]], [[Donna Fargo]], [[Reba McEntire]], [[The Oak Ridge Boys]], [[Con Hunley]], [[George Strait]], [[Tanya Tucker]], [[Sawyer Brown]], [[Suzy Bogguss]], and Kevin Morris. In Nashville, the records Fogelsong promoted won 46 [[Grammy Award|Grammy]], [[Country Music Association Awards|CMA]] and [[Academy of Country Music Awards|ACM]] awards.<ref name=Jim/> He was inducted into the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1493521/jim-foglesong-heads-to-country-music-hall-of-fame.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228223457/http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1493521/jim-foglesong-heads-to-country-music-hall-of-fame.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 28, 2008|title=Jim Foglesong Heads to Country Music Hall of Fame|last=Morris|first=Edward |date=November 8, 2004|publisher=[[Country Music Television|CMT]]|accessdate=March 29, 2010}}</ref>

He was a [[World War II]] veteran with the [[United States Army]] and a graduate of the [[Eastman School of Music]] in [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[New York (state)|New York]]. After retiring from the active recording industry, he became head of the music business department of [[Trevecca Nazarene University]] in Nashville. He also taught a Business of Music class at [[Vanderbilt University]].

He died on July 9, 2013, at the age of 90. He is survived by wife of 62 years, Toni, and their four children.<ref name=Jim>Cooper, Peter (July 9, 2013). [http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/07/09/jim-foglesong-groundbreaking-music-executive-dies-at-90/ Jim Foglesong, groundbreaking music executive, dies at 90], ''[[The Tennessean]]''. Retrieved July 10, 2013.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{2000s Country Music Hall of Fame}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foglesong, Jim}} [[Category:1922 births]] [[Category:2013 deaths]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:United States Army soldiers]] [[Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees]] [[Category:Members of the Country Music Association]] [[Category:Record producers from West Virginia]] [[Category:American music promoters]] [[Category:Eastman School of Music alumni]] [[Category:Trevecca Nazarene University faculty]] [[Category:Vanderbilt University faculty]]