Bill Aucoin
Bill Aucoin (actually: William Martin Aucoin, born December 29, 1943 , † June 28, 2010 in Aventura , Florida ) was an American manager and discoverer and long-time manager of the Kiss group .
Career
Bill Aucoin grew up in Ayer , Massachusetts , where his father ran a restaurant. He studied business administration at Northeastern University in Boston . During this time he worked for various film companies, including as a cameraman. He applied to WGBH television in Boston, where he worked until graduation and was part of the production team for two broadcast formats, Julia Childs' French Chef and Folk Music USA .
After graduation, he went to New York City and worked for Teletape Productions. His job was to create advertising clips for well-known New York advertising agencies, which earned him a CLIO Award in 1969 for the Magic Fabrics clip (for the Singer company).
Aucoin also created a production about Barbra Streisand , a documentary about John F. Kennedy and commercials in connection with the presidential campaign of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy .
As a director and producer, Aucoin also shot pilot programs for newly developed formats, for example "Saturday Night at the Movement", which was initially rejected, but later, as " Saturday Night Live ", took up the basic concept developed by Aucoin and became a huge success for NBC . He also developed the TV music show "Flipside" in 1973, which he also produced and which NBC bought and broadcast over 114 radio stations at the same time. The concept was to introduce one or two artists on each show who performed their songs live. The A&R manager of the artist's record company usually did the performance . 13 episodes were produced between April and July 1973, and musical guests included Blood, Sweat & Tears , Rick Derringer , John Lennon and Edgar Winter . On May 19, 1973, Sha-Na-Na and Curtis Mayfield were guests, who belonged to the label "Buddah Records" and were introduced and interviewed by the President of the label, Neil Bogart . Bogart would later sign Kiss as the first group of his own new label " Casablanca Records ".
Many people who worked for the program "Flipside" later played a role when it came to Kiss: Co-producer Joyce Biawitz became co-manager of Kiss, producer Howard Marks later took over financial management for the with his partner Carl Glickman Group.
At this time, Aucoin developed a keen interest in getting into the music business and tried hard to find artists he could manage. He was supported by Joyce Biawitz.
Kiss
In the summer of 1973 the musicians from Kiss repeatedly invited representatives of record companies and other managers to their concerts in order to get a record deal. On August 10, 1973 they organized a concert with the opening acts "Street Punk" and "Luger", again invited well-known managers and journalists and, with the help of Peter Criss' large family, organized a fanatical audience. Bill Aucoin was also in the audience. He offered the group to manage them and get them a record deal , and said that a friend of his ( Neil Bogart ) had started a new label ( Casablanca Records ) and Kiss could be the first band on that label . Aucoin promised to get them the contract within one month, otherwise the management contract would be void and Kiss would be free of all obligations towards Aucoin. He impressed Stanley and Simmons in one conversation by saying, "If we're going to do this, if you're interested in working hard to make this a big, really big group, I'd be willing to get as much inside of you as possible invest." Aucoin kept its word and repeatedly funded the group from his private fortune until 1975. In some cases he took on costs up to $ 25,000 and paid with his credit card.
Aucoin brought Kiss together with Neil Bogart, for whom a concert was given again, which Gene Simmons reported about : We came out and played our five songs. Neil Bogart's mouth was literally hanging open. He had no idea what it was about. During "Life In The Woods" we put down our instruments and ran into the audience. I grabbed Neil's hands and clapped them for him. At the end of the last song, "Firehouse," we tossed the confetti right in his face. And then we ran out of the room (...) .
Bogart signed the band, and Aucoin founded the production company Rock Steady Productions Inc. with Joyce Biawitz and his management company Aucoin Management Inc. , which signed other artists in the 1970s, such as Piper , Billy Squier , Spider and Starz . In 1975 Aucoin took over Biawitz 'shares in the companies and paid them off.
In 1982, the collaboration with Kiss ended after their albums Dynasty , Unmasked and Music from the Elder more or less flopped and caused a heavy loss of income. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons took over the artistic direction of the band and transferred the rest of the management to their previous finance managers Carl Glickman and Howard Marks.
According to his management contract, Kiss Aucoin had to continue to pay a share of the revenue from record sales and release rights, which it did until 1983, after which the group's financial situation no longer allowed it. In 1986, Aucoin agreed to waive its rights in return for a one-off payment of an unknown amount.
Further stations
In 1978, as a partner of Joseph Barbera and Terry Morse Jr. , Aucoin produced the Kiss film Kiss Meets The Phantom of The Park (German title: Kiss - Hunted by Phantoms ). In 1981 Aucoin supervised the metal band Manowar , in 1982 he signed Billy Idol , he promoted and supervised him until 1985. In the early 1990s he withdrew from the business, but in 1998 started again with the band "Flipp". In 2007 he founded the company Aucoin Globe Entertainment , which looks after Crossbreed , Lordi , Nothing Rhymes with Orange , Evan Saffer , The Early Strike , Tantric and Fernando Perdomo .
death
Bill Aucoin suffered from prostate cancer and died on June 28, 2010 at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Aventura, Florida. He left behind his longtime partner Roman Fernandez and his two sisters, Betty Britton and Janet Bankowski.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley published the following obituary:
“ Bill Aucoin, our irreplaceable first manager, mentor, and beloved friend, has died from complications from his ongoing battle with prostate cancer. He has been our companion and guide from the beginning, and without his vision, guidance and unending dedication we would never have reached the heights we have climbed. Bill loved life and enjoyed it to the full. Words cannot describe his influence on us or on others close to him. Throughout the years he's never missed an opportunity to visit our shows near him or fly in to special concerts, as was the case with our last show at Madison Square Garden. He had hoped to see our show in London earlier this month, but his illness would not allow it. However, he planned to visit us at the start of our soon-to-be-starting US tour. We loved him, told him so too, and have the peace that he knew. We will mourn and glorify everything he was and did. We have lost part of ourselves. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aucoin biography on aucoin.biz ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Name search at clioawards.com
- ↑ Aucoin biography on aucoin.biz ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ And Party Every Day - The Inside Story of Casablanca Records
- ↑ IMDB entry for "Flipside"
- ↑ IMDB entry for the Flipside episode from May 19, 1973
- ↑ Article about Bill Aucoin on kissfaq.com (English) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Lydia Criss: Sealed With a Kiss , page 82; Lydia Criss Publishing, 2006
- ↑ David Leaf & Ken Sharp: Kiss - Behind The Mask
- ^ Kiss: Beyond the Makeup ; Documentation, VH1
- ^ David Leaf & Ken Sharp: Kiss - Behind The Mask , p. 55
- ^ CK Lendt: Kiss - The Making of a Supergroup , pages 301/302; BillboardBooks, 1997, ISBN 0-8230-7604-0
- ↑ IMDB entry on Kiss Meets The Phantom of The Park
- ^ Associated Press report, June 28, 2010
- ↑ Kissonline.com, 28 June 2010
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aucoin, Bill |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Aucoin, William Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American manager |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 29, 1943 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 28, 2010 |
| Place of death | Aventura , Florida |