First England, France, Germany . . . Motown Now Sets Sights On Italy and Spain
DETROIT —Tamla-Motown Records will launch an Italia language “Motown Sound” in Italy in June and may do the same for Spain. Berry Gordy Jr., president of the record company, recently flew in Peter Ricci of RCA-Italiana, to supervise recording sessions of the firm’s top acts, these included the Supremes, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Jimmy Ruffin, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations.
Motown product has been highly successful in Italy, but these records were all English versions, said Phil Jones, marketing director. “Sales were fantastic.” He postulated that a hit record in English released for the Italian market could hit as high as 200,000 in sales. “It’s the sound that the kids buy.”
Italian versions are expected to do much better because of the larger potential market. “The Four Tops doing ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ and their ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ in Italian is almost unbelievable,” Jones said. Some of the tunes being released in Italian versions were previously hit records in English. The Italian versions will be released as singles, as well as an album packaging several of the artists together.
Motown Records has become established in nearly all foreign countries, Jones said. “The sound has caught on there the same as it did here. We’ve had top 10 records in almost every major country, including Argentina, Israel, England, and Spain.” All were in English. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” by the Four Tops went to No. 1 in Spain, he said. END
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(Information and source source: Billboard; May 6, 1967)
NEW YORK —Herman’s Hermits, the hottest selling act today, this week have set a precedent by having their latest single release, “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” break into the Hot 100 chart at No. 12. This is the highest any record has ever hit the chart. The previous high was the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” on Capitol which came in at position 21.
Herman’s Hermits now have three singles in the top 20 of the Hot 100 chart, with their “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” at No. 6, “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” at No. 12 and “Silhouettes” at No. 19 in only three weeks on the chart.
The tune, from their latest LP, has received what is considered the heaviest airplay of any record not released as a single. Disk jockeys were playing the cut from the group’s smash LP, “Introducing Herman’s Hermits,” which is No. 3 on the Top LP’s chart in Billboard.
While “Silhouettes” was just released three weeks ago, MGM was forced to release “Mrs. Brown” and to date has found the has been no effect in the sales of the other two singles by the same group.
The advanced airplay on this tune has obviously helped the LP tremendously, since customers were forced to buy the package to obtain “Mrs. Brown.”
The group is scheduled to arrive in this country Monday (April 19) for a month of one-nighters with the Dick Clark tour starting April 30. Prior to that they will make several personal appearances. They will appear on ABC -TV’s “Shindig” May 4. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; April 17, 1965)
From the Desk of Bill Gavin Billboard Contributing Editor
IT’S FUN, SO THEY TELL ME, to be a music director. It’s the most fun when you’re with an important station in a big city. Big name stars you’ve never met phone you, call you by your first name, and speak in a manner suggesting a lasting, possibly, personal friendship. Even though your own salary is considerably less than that of any disk jockey on your station, national officers of big record companies phone you, call on you, take you to dinner and treat you as a real V.I.P. Which you are.
Even if you’re in a smaller town, you can still be important. You have a sense of power. You can break new records in your area and force the nearby big city stations to he aware of them. Promotion men come to sec you, and they let you know just how much influence you really have. You may even receive pre -release mailings of new records and get them on the air ahead of your big town colleagues. It’s exciting work.
DISCUSSING ALL THE MEANINGLESS back slapping and phony good will that goes with record promotion, the music director is more a part of the record business than anyone else at his station. It is part of his job to know what is going on in the world of records. It’s a fascinating world of show business and it’s fun to be part of it, if only as an observer. The fun of being a music director more than compensates for the daily chore of auditing all those new releases. Those who have never faced this task for any length of time have little notion what a grinding and frustrating experience it can be. It requires many hours every day to listen all the way through both sides of every new record that arrives. Add to this the extra hours that the conscientious music director spends in listening several times to those entries that he considers important, and it makes for a pretty full week in auditioning alone. The amount of trash that must be sifted to discover the worthwhile items is horrendous. Of course, hardly any music director listens to all the sides all the way through. An unfamiliar label by an unknown artist may he tossed out unheard. The first few bars of one side may be so unacceptable that no further attention is paid to either side. And, if he gets too busy with other duties, he may put aside the remaining newcomers in a “file for future reference” category, the limbo of “lost” records.
THE BIGGEST HAZARD that any music director must face is his own ego. The search for fame as a “picker’ can distort objective judgment. There is little distinction in picking obvious hits, such as new Bobby Vintons. Elvis Presleys. the Beatles and Brenda Lee. It is human nature to want to he a hero by “discovering” a hit which others had overlooked. This is why so many music directors spend valuable air time looking for gold under the rocks and ignoring the diamonds lying around in plain sight.
BILLBOARDFebruary 8, 1964
Then there is the music director whose nickname might very well be “Flip.” He frequently takes issue with the record companies on their choice of plug side. One in a while he may be right in his espousal of the flip, but most often he is wrong. Certainly there is no necessity for anyone to accept the infallibility of the record company’s selection of a preferred side. In a list of top hits for any year there are always a few items that were broken by a music director who disregarded the company’s promotion of the flip side. With most music directors the flip pick is an honest judgment. With others it is hero mania. Every music director owes his employer the obligation to use his own best judgment in selecting the side to be played. He should also he ready to admit his mistakes and to correct them. Sometimes, however, the music director keeps trying to prove his point in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary and permits his own stubborn ego to blind him to the facts.
IN ORDER TO BE EFFECTIVE the music director must know his market. While a majority of hit records do well in all areas, certain artists and certain musical sounds tend to do better in one city than in another. An awareness of local preferences is essential in guiding the music director’s selection of new material. Even though record sales are the yardstick by which the music director’s success is measured. his prime concern is not with selling records but with station ratings. He may he tempted to “do a favor” for his favorite promotion man, but it is no favor to his employer to allow personal favoritism to interfere with the best possible programming. It is worthy of note that the most successful radio stations all have top-notch music directors. Whatever they are paid, they are well worth it. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 8, 1964)
‘Senator Bobby’ First Novelty Single Chords Cameo Success
NEW YORK —Cameo/Parkway Records’ success with ”Wild Thing,” by Senator Bobby – 650,000 in sales, according to sales director Neil Bogart – has prompted a new single to capitalize on the recording success of another Senator on another label.
The new single will team Senator Bobby and Sen. Everett McKinley on “Mellow Yellow.” As in the “Wild Thing” hit, which produced an album “Boston Soul,” there’ll be no doubt of McKinley’s “image.” The label has already taped a Hollywood Palace TV show debuting the new single in which Senator Bobby and Senator McKinley vie for top billing.
The successful comedy records – and comedy hit singles are few and far in between -are a big indication of the vitality shown by Cameo /Parkway during the past year. Since Al Rosenthal took over as president, the firm has had its first No. 1 record on the Hot 100 chart in three years – “96 Tears,” by? (Question Mark) and the Mysterians. This was a master Bogart purchased from Pagogo Records by flying to McAllen, Tex., and making a deal with producer Joseph Gonzalez.
Windy C Pacts
‘SENATOR BOBBY‘ “Boston Soul” album, 1967 (click on image for largest view)
Also part of the revitalizing was the signing of distributing deals with Windy C Records, produced by Curtis Mayfield,Lucky Eleven Records, and SentareRecords. “What we’ve tried to do,” Bogart said, “is come up with seven or eight artists who will sell a certain amount of records every time one is issued – like Terry Knight and the Pack, who’ll sell 100,000 copies; or Eddie Holman, who’ll sell 60,000. Then we try to make them ‘happen’ all over the nation rather than in just their normal sales areas. I feel that if a group can do well. like the Rationals who always sell 15,000 in Detroit on every record, in a given area there’s a chance of them hitting it big nationwide. The Fabulous Flippers sold 28,000 on their last record in Kansas City and Minneapolis.
“If we take a group like this and keep pushing them and building them we can break them to other markets and have a big group,” Bogart said. “A good example is Terry Knight. It took the fourth record before wewere able to break him to other markets than Detroit,” he said. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 11, 1967)
DETROIT — (04/1967) — Terry Knight will open at the Chess Mate with his new revue (probably and 8-piece band) May 1 . . . . Due in May is the Beatles‘ new album called ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Band.’ John took a full month to produce one of the cuts, “Lovely Rita,” which features a backwards track of a musical comb. Sounds, Inc., accompany John and Paul’s duet on another number . . . . Warner Brothers dug into the past and dug out “Searchin'” by the Mugwumps who are none other than the Spoonful’s Zal, Mama Cass, Papa Denny and Jim Hendricks, now in a group called The Lamp of Childhood. The Mugwumps were together in 1964 . . . . Bob Seger and The Last Herd begin a nationwide promotion tour for their new release, “Vagrant Winter.” . . . . Jamie Cole recorded “First Girl” written by Dugg Brown and arranged by Bob Seger . . . . At the Ford Auditorium on May 12 the Blues Magoos in a concert sponsored by the Chess Mate with Don Zee emceeing . . . . Patty Hawkins has a Five Americans fan club. Address is 366 W. Webster, Ferndale 48220 . . . . England’s very hot Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich planned U.S. promotional tour this month but may not make it since they just left for Australia to join Eric Burdon & The Animals on tour. They replaced the Hollies whose drummer Bobby Elliot got sick . . . . The all-girl Pleasure Seekers from Gross Pointe makes most of their adorable mini mini outfits . . . . Dick Clark bringing in the Monkees July 29 to Olympia . . . . A beautiful new teen club opens at Pine Knob Friday when Dave Shafer will be there with the Unrelated Segments and other groups. Saturday Don Zee will emcee with groups like the Epidemic. END
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THE PLEASURE SEEKERS circa 1966. From left: organist Arlene Fenn; lead singer Suzi Quatro; drummer Darline Arnone; bass guitarist Pammi Benford; and lead guitarist Paett Quatro.
(Information and news source: Detroit Free Press; Fri., April 14, 1967)
The Kingsmen Hit Deemed Lyrically ‘Obscene and Suggestive’
INDIANAPOLIS —“Louie Louie” has been fingered by Indiana’s first citizen, Gov. Matthew Welsh, as being “pornographic.” The Governor, who after hearing the hit Wand recording by the Kingsmen, told people his “ears tingled.” Welsh then promptly fired off a request to Reid Chapman, president of the Indiana Broadcasters Association, requesting that the record be banned from all radio stations in the State, and Chapman, vice-president of WANE AM-AV, Fort Wayne, dutifully passed Welsh’s request on to his membership.
Reports from the capital city reveal that a high school student from Frankfort, Ind., was first to send the Governor a copy of the allegedly pornographic recording. College students from Miami University in Athens, Ohio, followed suit by providing Welsh with copies of printed “obscene lyrics.”
A spokesman at Indianapolis’ WIBC, the city’s top-rater, said that the record (this week No. 6 in the nation) was No. 4 at the station for the past two weeks, but is not currently being played.
Group W’s 50,000-watt outlet in Fort Wayne reports that the station has never played the record, but is carefully investigating all the allegations. It was learned that attempts by WOWO and other stations to capture the lyrics from the Wand waxing was nearly impossible because of the allegedly unintelligible rendition as performed by the Kingsmen.
Sources at Sceptor-Wand Records in New York flatly stated that “not in anyone’s wildest imagination are the lyrics as presented on the Wand recording in any way suggestive, let alone obscene.”
The feeling at the diskery is that a bootleg version may be the culprit.
It also seems likely that some shrewd press agentry may also he playing an important role in this teapot tempest. Exactly whose press agent is hard to pin down at this point. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 1, 1964)
THE KINGSMENcirca 1964DETROIT FREE PRESS(editorial cartoon) December 10, 1985
Miracles’ Whisky Performance Stellar; Club’s Mikes Are Not
LOS ANGELES — Smokey Robinson and the Miracles prove that a hit record creates loyal fans. When the Whisky A Go Go reopened last Thursday (January 12) after a face-lifting, fans flocked to the opening show. The foursome’s opening was a happy, noisy affair. Some 85 per cent of the crowd were young girls who bounced and sang in their seats with the performers.
SMOKEY ROBINSON and the Miracles, 1966
The club’s management has reacted to the recent abolishing of teenage dance permits, by moving the stage out where the dance floor formerly was. The hour was SRO for the Miracles, whose singing was marred by poor mike balances with a good eight-piece band which covered them up front with their own dynamics.
Consequently, much of the quartet’s harmonies and counterpoints were lost in the front seats. Robinson handles his solos with exuberance while his aides provide the oohs and aahs.
Repertoire encompasses some good numbers like “Poinciana” and “Yesterday” and the “Best Is Yet to Come,” but they suffered because of bad sound balances. On the jump tunes, like “Mickey’s Monkey,”“Ooh Baby, Baby” and “Going To A Go-Go,” the quartet works hard and involves the crowd.
Motown act has a subtle sex appeal which helps build visual appeal. To be an effective club act, the group needs better control over its back up bands to allow their own vocal blendings to come through. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; January 28, 1967)
THE SCENE OUTSIDE the Whisky-A-Go Go in West Hollywood, at the corner of Clark and Sunset Blvd, in Los Angeles. On January 12, 1964, Johnny Rivers was booked for live on-stage performances at the Whiskey’s premiere opening that year. Exactly three years later to the day, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles took to the Whiskey stage with a live performance for the club’s grand-reopening, January 1967.
ANDY WILLIAMS’ YULE MARK; TOPS TWO CHARTS FOR CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY 1963
(This Holiday post previously was featured on Motor City Radio Flashbacks on December 24, 2015, December 23, 2014 and December 24, 2013)
Andy Williams, 1963(click image for larger view).
NEW YORK — Columbia’s Andy Williams gave the label a first place in both the singles and albums derby, according to Billboard’s special Christmas sales recap last week. For the first time in the Christmas listings, Williams scored with his “White Christmas” single and his “Andy Williams Christmas Album.”
In the album running, Columbia held the top position with eight of the 25 packages listed, including three in the top 10. RCA Victor took second-honors with four on the parent label and two others on its low-priced Camden line. Capitol placed third with three Christmas best sellers. On the charts with one album each were Decca, Mercury, 20th-Century Fox, London, Liberty, Philles, MGM and Argo.
In the singles area, Decca and Capitol tied with four listings each out of 16 records reported showing healthy sales on this week’s best-selling Christmas singles charts. Liberty placed two on the list (both by the Chipmunks) while Columbia, 20th-Century Fox, King, Mercury, Epic and Warner Brothers landed one each on the Billboard special Christmas list for 1963. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; December 21, 1963).
THE 1963 CHRISTMAS TOP 10 ALBUMS
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The Christmas Top 10 best-selling albums Billboard listed (from 25) for December 21, 1963:
No. 1: “Andy Williams Christmas Album,” Columbia; No. 2: “Sounds Of Christmas,” Johnny Mathis, Mercury; No. 3: “Little Drummer Boy,” Harry Simeone Chorale, 20th-Century Fox; No. 4: “This Christmas I Spent With You,” Robert Goulet, Columbia; No. 5: “Elvis Christmas Album,” Elvis Presley, RCA Victor. No. 6: “Merry Christmas,” Bing Crosby, Decca; No. 7: “Christmas Greetings From Mantovani and his Orchestra,” London; No. 8: “Merry Christmas,” Johnny Mathis, Columbia; No. 9: “Christmas With The Chipmunks, Vol. 2,” David Seville and the Chipmunks, Liberty; No. 10: “Christmas Song,” Nat King Cole, Capitol Records.
This 2016 Christmas Holiday Season
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This Christmas 2016 Motor City Radio Flashbacks presents “The Andy Williams Christmas Album” in its entirety from 1963.
Aside from his best-selling Christmas recordings, Andy Williams brought us some of the best in televised Christmas specials into our homes during the Christmas holiday season as well, for nearly five decades, singing seasons’ praise with profound holiday spirit and Christmas joy.Andy Williams passed awayin September, 2012.
If only for a moment, in playing this album, imagine it’s Christmas-time 1963 once again. We hope this holiday album will take you back to a special time and place, to a memorable holiday seasons’ past we cherished with loved ones, our families, and with friends we were truly blessed having then when we first heard this beautiful, special Andy Williams yule-tide recording for the very first time . . . Christmases past, long, long ago.
There’s “Food For Thought” In a Thanksgiving Day Visit to Your House of Worship
T O D A Y , F A R T O O M A N Y of us think of Thanksgiving in terms of food and football — overlooking the fact that there is so much more food offered than that which is placed on the family table. For there is much “food for thought” as well.
Thanksgiving is a time to take stock of life’s blessings . . . to take a bright-eyed child on your knee and talk to him, or her, of things that really matter. . . of their great American heritage and the promise it holds for them. It’s a time to take your whole family to your church or synagogue for an hour of prayer and thanks that will make your holiday mean so much more.
True, our lives are far removed from those of the Pilgrim Fathers. We live in the uncertainty of the Atomic Age. But we also live in the abundance of 20th Century America. Has any one of us so much or so little that he cannot find room or time in his heart to say thanks?
This Thanksgiving, why not take your family to your church or synagogue? Wherever you are . . . whatever your beliefs may be . . . take time to offer your word of thanks.
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FIND THE STRENGTH FOR YOUR LIFE . . . WORSHIP TOGETHER THIS WEEK!
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 17, 1958)
With every head bowed over the dinner table, a reverent family of five saying Grace. Thanksgiving Day, 1958
DETROIT —WJLB, Booth Broadcasting’s 1,000-watt r &b operation here, has just launched a new programming policy centering around tighter production, faster pacing, and a new set of custom jingles by Quincy Jones.
WJLB AIR STAFFAugust 1967(click image for largest view)
Wash Allen, who just recently took over WJLB program director duties after being transferred from Booth’s WABQ in Cleveland, said the Detroit station would be “running with a full-blast, exciting young sound.” Playlist will be 40 records, to which he will add as necessity demands. “You can never tell how many good tunes will come out in a good week, but I think the average will be about five new records a week.” he said.
The aim will be to establish consistency in programming, Allen said. He felt his philosophy in programming was the same as Bill Drake, consultant to RKO General stations, and Paul Drew, program director of CKLW in Detroit.
“Certain top tunes must be played consistently and deejays must be consistent in their shows. One deejay can’t make a station; it has to be a total operation and this is a new concept in r &b radio. In the old days, one guy could make a station, he could make a record. It can’t be like that today.”
Things are changing so fast in radio, especially in r &b radio, that Allen felt many older deejays were finding it difficult to grasp what was happening. “To some extent,’ Allen said “it was necessary to teach radio to these Mitch Miller people. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that this situation developed.
It’s just that times are changing and a radio station has to move with the times.” Allen began his radio career with WVOL in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University. He had been with WABQ about two and a half years before moving to WJLB. He considers himself a “derivative of Ed Wright,” who’d been program director of WABQ prior to joining Liberty Records as head of its Minit label.
Allen wrote lyrics and produced the Jones jingles. Future plans call for psychedelic jingles. Station has brought in new equipment and is building up its news department. In Martha Jean Steinberg and Ernie Durham, Allen felt he had two of the top air personalities of any station in the nation. “Now, with the new equipment, we have everything to work with.”END
(Information and news source: Billboard; September 23, 1967)
DETROIT — Tamla-Motown Records will launch an Italia language “Motown Sound” in Italy in June and may do the same for Spain. Berry Gordy Jr., president of the record company, recently flew in Peter Ricci of RCA-Italiana, to supervise recording sessions of the firm’s top acts, these included the Supremes, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Jimmy Ruffin, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations.
