Two South Africans who pioneered global pop music in the 80s and 90s

While many are familiar with pop acts such as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys, most are unaware of the two South African-born label bosses who put them on the map.

The South Africans in question are Clive Calder and Ralph Simon, who founded the Zomba Label Group, regarded as one of the most successful independent music companies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Both were born and raised in Johannesburg. However, each found their own unique path into the music business.

Calder bought his first guitar at age 15 and, by 18, was performing gigs with his band. He used the money to support his mother and sister following his father’s death.

Despite recalling school as “unbearably boring,” he is reported to have enjoyed numbers and finance and studied South African tax manuals recreationally.

Simon said that he discovered his love for music after receiving a scholarship to work with an American company and produce a report during his university studies.

His stay in the US lasted for two months, and while he was there, he attended the Fillmore East theatre in New York, a rock venue owned by promoter Bill Graham.

Upon returning to South Africa, Simon wanted to recreate the live concerts he had experienced in the US in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.

This led him to start South Africa’s biggest outdoor rock festival, which he took to Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Calder had joined several bands, such as The Furies, The Four Dukes, The In Crowd, and Calder’s Collection. Although he could play several instruments, he predominantly played the bass guitar.

EMI Records soon recruited him as an A&R (artists and repertoire) agent, responsible for discovering new talent and overseeing the development of signed artists.

While working at EMI, he met Ralph Simon, with whom he went on to form CCP (Clive Calder Productions) Records at the age of 25, which was initially distributed and later bought by EMI.

CCP Records is best known for discovering artists such as Brenda Fassie, Mandoza, Chicco Twala, Aba Shant, and Arthur Mafokate. 

While working at CCP, Calder and Simon met Robert Lange, whom they introduced to radio host David Gresham. Lange later produced the local hit “Sunday Monday Tuesday” for Gresham’s label.

Going global

In 1974, fed up with the apartheid regime, the three moved to the UK and formed Zomba Records, named after the Malawian city. Lange was their first client.

Because they knew little about the British music scene, the three decided to establish Zomba as a publishing and management company rather than a recording label.

By choosing this path, Zomba could focus on managing artists and publishing music instead of creating, marketing and distributing it, which proved more costly.

Henri Bololo, who formed the group The Village People, was one of the first acts signed by Zomba in the UK. Zomba became Bololo’s British publisher.

Meanwhile, Lange was developing a reputation as a songwriter and producer, working with acts like the Boomtown Rats and Graham Parker. This helped to increase Zomba’s credibility.

He later recorded AC/DC’s Highway to Hell in 1979, his breakthrough album, and several other acts, such as Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, and Foreigner.

Zomba then expanded to the US in 1978, establishing offices in New York in search of more artists.

The group stuck to its artist management model, with Clive Davis’s Arista Records distributing their music in the country.

Following the initial success in the US with acts like Billy Ocean, Davis approached Calder to take over A&R responsibilities for his label on the West Coast.

Calder declined and pitched the idea of Jive Records to Davis. Davis had been struggling to promote rock music and believed Zomba’s connection to Lange could help.

Despite this, Jive started pushing British dance and pop music in 1981 with acts like Q-Feel and A Flock of Seagulls.

However, Jive became exposed to the hip-hop scene through A&R Barry Weiss, who took Calder to several hip-hop clubs in New York for his job interview.

Jive eventually signed acts such as Whodini, A Tribe Called Quest, Aaliyah, R Kelly, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, who became the first Hip-Hop act to win a Grammy Award.

Becoming a global power player

By 1990, Zomba was valued at $225 million, or R4.9 billion by today’s standards, and had over 50 subsidiaries.

Following an “ethical disagreement”, Calder bought out Simon’s 50% stake in Zomba.

A year later, Calder sold 25% of Zomba’s publishing division to BMG Rights Management and 20% of the recording division five years later.

Calder eventually stumbled upon the Backstreet Boys, who were signed but were not being pushed, an act he thought could expand label exposure in Europe and Asia.

This eventually paid off as their first album sold 1 million units in three weeks in Asia, with their US debut selling 14 million copies a year later.

Because of the boyband’s success, Calder sent out an A&R to find a similar female act, with the talent scout returning with Britney Spears.

Spears, who was only 15 years old, soon recorded You Got It All and …Baby One More Time, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999 and remained there for four weeks.

By 2000, the New York Post reported that Zomba was the world’s most prominent independent music label, with over $800 million in revenue.

In 2002, Calder sold Zomba Records and all its assets to BMG Rights Management for $2.3 billion.

Post-Zomba careers

Simon remained in the music industry until 1997, serving as the executive vice president of Capitol Records and Blue Note Records.

After noticing how pervasive mobile devices were becoming throughout society, he pivoted into the mobile sector with his startup, Yourmobile.

Using the required copyright licenses, Simon and his team created monophonic ringtones, bringing in additional revenue for these major music publishers.

He has therefore become known as the father of the modern-day ringtone.

In 2003, Yourmobile was sold to Vivendi, a French media conglomerate, and the company was renamed Moviso.

Calder, on the other hand, founded Elma Philanthropies Services using the wealth he acquired from his career in the music business.

The organisation, headquartered in Cape Town, focuses on improving childhood health and education in Africa and has offices in Kampala, Johannesburg, and New York.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Elma pledged roughly R1.9 billion to help fight the virus in Africa, R460 million of which was dedicated to South Africa.