Michael Ames Viner ( VEE-nər; February 27, 1944 – August 8, 2009) was an American film producer and record producer, who later shifted into book publishing and became an innovator in the audiobook field. A widely sampled percussion break in the recording of the song "Apache" by the Incredible Bongo Band, a group he assembled in the early 1970s, has been frequently integrated into many hip hop recordings.
Early life Viner was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Jeanne (née Spitzel) and Melvin Viner. Viner attended the Chadwick School in Palos Verdes, California, majored in English at Harvard University, and studied at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He worked on Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Viner began his entertainment industry career working summers during high school in the mail room at Twentieth Century Fox; after Kennedy's assassination, he worked for movie studios, and ran a record division called Pride for MGM. He was the producer of the inaugural ball for President Richard Nixon in 1973.
Record producing Viner produced a record in 1970 called The Best of Marcel Marceau, a joke album produced for under $50 and consisting...
Extract from Wikipedia: “Michael Viner” (CC BY-SA 4.0).
