Russ Solomon, who founded Tower Records, died at his home in Sacramento, CA on Sunday night (3/4). He was 92. His son, Micheal, told The Sacramento Bee that he apparently died of a heart attack while watching The Oscars. “Ironically, he was giving his opinion of what someone was wearing that he thought was ugly, then asked (his wife) Patti to to refill his whisky,” Solomon said. When she returned, he had died. Rest in peace, Russ.
Solomon started Tower Record in 1960 in Sacramento, opened a second store in San Francisco in 1968 and Los Angeles in 1970 and by 1980 had stores around the world, including multiple locations in NYC (like the 4th St location). Tower Record closed it’s last U.S. store in 2006, though there are still Tower stores in Japan. If you’d like to know more, Colin Hanks’ entertaining 2015 documentary about Solomon and Tower Records, All Things Must Pass, is streaming for free on Showtime, and you can rent it on most other digital platforms. Watch the trailer below.