Mercury Records co-founder Irving Green has died at the age of 90, from natural causes. Green founded the label back in 1945 with colleagues Berle Adams and Arthur Talmadge. Via the company, Green is credited with helping to break down the industry's colour barrier, by promoting artists such as Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, of course, and becoming the first major label to have a black high-level executive, hiring then trumpeter Quincy Jones as vice president.
Green moved on to land development after Mercury was sold to Polygram in the seventies, building hundreds of homes in Iran, before becoming a developer in Palm Springs. He is survived by a wife, two daughters, three grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.