Barbara Hein obit

Barbara Hein, Longtime Capitol Records Operations Manager, Dies at 77

After playing music with an unknown Harry Nilsson, she got to collaborate with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, Dwight Yoakam and Andrew Lloyd Webber. 

She was not on the list.

Barbara Hein, a longtime Capitol Records studio operations manager who worked alongside such music legends as Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Placido Domingo, Tina Turner and Andrew Lloyd Webber, has died. She was 77.

Hein died Wednesday in Burbank after dealing with “various health conditions” the past few years, a publicist announced.

Born outside of Shanghai in 1948, Hein moved at age 8 from Israel to Los Angeles. She learned to play the guitar and the piano and at 13 put together an all-female pop group called The Beach Girls.

They accidentally met Harry Nilsson, then a struggling artist/songwriter in Hollywood, and practiced every weekend with him for months before signing contracts with two labels, first Vault Records and then Vee-Jay Records. The Beach Girls’ records were released in the early 1960s, with Nilsson on background vocals.

After attending Fairfax High School, Hein found a job with Capitol at its Glendale pressing plant. In 1978, she was promoted to studio operations manager at the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, where she mixed with recording artists, managers, producers and recording engineers.

Other singers she worked with included Julie Andrews, Joan Baez, Rick Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Steve Miller, Bob Seger, Babyface, David Foster, Richard Marx, Julio Iglesias, Jermaine Jackson and Judy Collins.

Hein exited Capitol in 1989 and served as a production coordination for the likes of Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Lucinda Williams, The Meat Puppets and Patti Austin.

In the mid-’90s, she helped start Little Dog Records with producer Pete Anderson and studio owners Dusty Wakeman and Michael Dumas. The label’s music was distributed by PolyGram Records Nashville.

More recently, she joined her life partner, Helen Cohen, at Entertainment Management Inc. in Burbank before retiring in 2021.

In addition to Cohen, survivors include her sister, Susie; nephews Peter and Paul; niece Laura; and several great-nieces and great-nephews.