Philip Walden Jr., the son of Capricorn Records co-founder Phil Walden, was killed in a freak car accident Tuesday night in Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
In the early 1990s, the junior Walden was instrumental in relaunching the label, which had been home to southern rockers The Allman Brothers Band in the 1970s, when it entered into a joint venture agreement with Warner Bros. The first band to sign to the new incarnation was Widespread Panic, followed by Cake and 311.
According to Atlanta police spokesperson Kim Jones, Walden was found pinned in a parking structure on Piedmont Ave. between a concrete pillar and his truck door.
“It appeared the victim placed the vehicle in reverse, and then noticed his sunglasses had fallen outside of his truck and attempted to grab his sunglasses from the ground while keeping his foot on the brake,” Jones explained. Walden died of a blunt force injury to the chest. He was 48.
Walden had spent his post-Capricorn years working as an attorney in Atlanta.
In 2000, his father Phil Walden, who also managed Otis Redding in the 1960s and died in 2006, sold the label’s assets to Zomba subsidiary Volcano and the Capricorn imprint was soon made dormant as artists were either dropped or, like 311, moved over to the Jive/Volcano roster.
“311 owes a great debt of gratitude to both Philip Walden Jr. and Sr.,” vocalist-guitarist Nick Hexum tells THR. “They believed in us and gave us our start and we’re forever grateful. Our hearts go out to their family. They’ll be missed.”
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