Bear Family's Richard Weize is dead: the man who gave pop a past

For a long time, popular music was a fleeting affair. Recorded recordings were given a short probationary period, then they disappeared from stores and the public consciousness again. Even in the 1970s, record stores sold almost exclusively current productions. Only the really big names from the past might have had a “Greatest Hits” or “Golden Oldies” album on a special shelf, usually in a repulsively clownish package. The past was considered cringe.

If today the music industry can regularly celebrate the beautiful milestones of pop music with special editions of 4 CDs or 12 LPs plus this and that addition and bring them to the people in astonishing numbers, they should actually keep lighting a candle for Richard Weize. In 1975, Weize founded Bear Family Records in Bremen as a record mail order company with an attached label. The content was initially primarily about American roots genres, i.e. country, rock 'n' roll, blues and rhythm and blues. The first release was the album “Going Back to Dixie” by bluegrass artist Bill Clifton.

However, he found his true calling in republications, which the bookseller's son edited with a level of care that was previously completely unknown to the music market. He was able to persuade major American labels such as RCA, Columbia and Capitol to allow him access to their archives, where he not only researched the original master tapes, but also repeatedly unearthed unreleased treasures. These finds found their way into historical-critical complete editions, box sets consisting of 2 to 12 LPs (later CDs), with a booklet full of historical photos, biographical notes and, in the credits, not only the names of all the musicians involved, but also the location, day and time of the recording sessions. This is how Weize gave the past a place in the music market. Inspired by his work, other reissue labels such as Rhino, Demon and Line slowly emerged, until the industry finally ventured into this territory.

Weize not only succeeded in commercially marketing the work boxes of world stars such as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson or Merle Haggard, but also in selling so many copies worldwide of publications by artists little known outside of expert circles such as Charline Arthur, Hank Penny or Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant that at least no major losses were incurred. This was important because throughout his life Weize always remained a music lover first and foremost and organized his releases from a fan perspective.

As a reward, in addition to numerous letters of thanks from the published artists, there were prizes: several times the German Record Critics' Prize, seventeen "ARSC Awards" for "Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research", an "Echo" for life's work, as well as awards from the Library of Congress, the Country Music Association, the Blues Foundation and several "Grammy" nominations. In 2014, Richard Weize sold Bear Family to two employees, but continued to operate two niche labels. He died at the age of 81 on November 13, 2026.