Dick James

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Dick James , actually Richard Leon Isaac Vapnick (born December 12, 1920 in London ( Whitechapel ), † February 1, 1986 ibid) was a British singer and music publisher who managed the compositions of the Beatles and is considered the discoverer of Elton John .

Career as a singer

The son of Polish-Jewish immigrants left school prematurely in 1934 and joined various London dance orchestras as a singer from 1937 . He made his first recordings in 1942 with Primo Scala & His Accordion Band , in 1945 he changed his name to Dick James, in 1947 he went to Cyril Stapleton's jazz band. In July 1948 he even had a medium hit in the USA with the much-covered You Can't Be True, Dear , which climbed to 19th place on the charts there . In 1949 he and Cliff Adams founded the Stargazers , a pure vocal combo.

In December 1952 he started a solo career that led him to Parlophone . The first single I Went to Your Wedding there was - like all subsequent ones - produced by George Martin . His greatest success of a total of over 20 singles he celebrated with the title song Robin Hood recorded on December 5, 1955 for the British television series The Adventures of Robin Hood , which rose to 14th place after publication on January 20, 1956. Despite the mediocre placement, the single was sold over 500,000 times. The series began on September 26, 1955, so it was an important vehicle for the song. Because of his looks, he saw no future as an interpreter when a sudden hair loss made him bald.

Music publisher

Since 1953 he had been working for the music publisher Sidney Bron Music Co. , for which he worked until 1958 and was able to record 28 hits (five of them top hits) with British performers. Encouraged by this success, on September 18, 1961, he decided to work with Dick James Music Publishing Ltd. to found his own music publisher. Together with two employees, he initially managed only three copyrights, including The Niagara Theme composed by George Martin (recorded by the Alyn Ainsworth Orchestra on January 19, 1962). During that founding phase, an unknown composer named Mitch Murray came to him, who wrote his composition How Do You Do It? wanted to be managed by Dick James. James approached his previous producer, George Martin. With this, the Beatles had just received a record deal and Martin was looking for more song material for the group. Quite uninterested, they recorded the title on September 4, 1962, thus preventing a single from being released. Another business opportunity arose for Dick James.

Beatles manager Brian Epstein was dissatisfied with the weak advertising for the first Beatles single Love Me Do by the EMI group and its music publisher Ardmore & Beachwood and therefore decided to look for a new music publisher. On the recommendation of George Martin, Epstein turned to the newly founded music publisher Dick James. When asked how he envisions the public relations work for the new single Please Please Me , James called the producer of the new television show "Thank Your Lucky Stars". He achieved there that the Beatles were allowed to appear in the popular music show on January 19, 1963, shortly after their single Please Please Me was released. In a short time the young music publisher was able to announce two top hits, namely How Do You Do It? in the version by Gerry & the Pacemakers and From Me to You by the Beatles. Within just seven months, the music publisher had seven top hits under management. These included three original compositions sung by the Beatles, another two Beatles compositions for Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and another Mitch Murray composition for Gerry & the Pacemakers.

Success with The Beatles Copyrights

Dick James Music Publishing should not, however, manage copyright directly. The music publisher Northern Songs Ltd. founded on February 22, 1963. With a share of 50% of this, Dick James held the majority, 40% were with the Beatles and 10% held their manager Epstein. In the publishing house managed by Dick James Music, 56 Beatles compositions were brought in when it was founded, some of which were taken over by other performers. The unusual and disadvantageous ownership structure for the Beatles should mean that the actual composer received only 20% instead of the usual 50% publishing royalties . The conditions in the important US market were even more unfair. Maclen Inc. was founded as a collecting society according to the contracts drawn up by Dick James, which paid out 50% of its publishing royalties to Dick James Music. This gave Dick James 75% of the publisher's income, although 85% would normally have been granted to the Beatles. The contract with Ardmore & Beechwood Ltd. however, would have met the standards.

Dick James proposed an IPO for Northern Songs Ltd. in February 1965 for tax reasons . in front. After the Beatles had given up their resistance to this, the ownership structure was initially changed in their favor. Dick James' share was reduced to 37.5%, while John Lennon / Paul McCartney, as main composers, were able to increase their shares to 15% each. The Beatles management company NEMS Enterprises had a 7.5% stake, while George Harrison and Ringo Starr only received 0.8% each. This should bring 28.2% into free float through the IPO. Half of this was bought by a consortium of London investment banks, which held their shares until 1969.

The Beatles copyrights are traded

The Beatles' relationship with Dick James became increasingly distant and critical, they spoke of him as the “man in a suit” because their compositions made him a multimillionaire - without any particular achievement of his own. The George Harrison track Only a Northern Song (on the album Yellow Submarine ) takes a critical look at the situation surrounding the Beatles publishing rights. With a clever participation policy, Dick James had been able to prevent the Beatles from ever getting full possession of their compositions or receiving the standard royalty rates. In March 1969, Dick James sold his Northern Songs shares to the television station ATV (Associated TeleVision Corporation) without first consulting the Beatles involved. James feared that the music business controversial businessman Allen Klein , whom the Beatles had hired to reorganize their own label Apple Records , could gain influence on Northern Songs . When the London banking consortium also sold its 14% to ATV on May 20, 1969, ATV suddenly became the majority shareholder with 54% of the Beatles music publisher. At that time, the music publisher had a goodwill equivalent to 45 million euros.

Due to the majority of the shares, ATV now had control over the Beatles music publisher. Short-sightedly, Lennon and McCartney accepted a compensation offer from ATV in October 1969 and gave the television station their own shares totaling 30% in Northern Songs in exchange for ATV convertible bonds , so that ATV now owned at least 84%. With this sale, the Beatles not only lost the blocking minority , but also control over ATV's possible plans for Northern Songs . The Beatles were legally obliged to have their compositions managed by Northern Songs until 1973 .

Dick James claims the sale of his shares in Northern Songs raised £ 10 million - a worthwhile investment: six years earlier he had only paid £ 100. He had become a multimillionaire through the Beatles publishing rights with 251 copyrights. In 1971 his group had grown to 42 companies, whose 7000 copyrights were administered by 40 employees.

Michael Jackson acquires The Beatles copyrights

The fight for the music publishing rights to 251 Beatles compositions went into the third round. From now on, a large number of partially secret negotiations took place between shareholders and interested parties, which remain difficult to understand. The starting point for Michael Jackson's interest in the publishing rights of the Beatles' compositions were two duets by him with Paul McCartney. The first duet was Say Say Say, recorded between May and September 1981 at Abbey Road Studios and completed in February 1983 with the support of George Martin . Jackson was staying with the McCartneys during that time, where Paul explained to him how to make money publishing music. In return, The Girl Is Mine was recorded in Los Angeles between April 14-16, 1982 and sold 2 million copies in October 1982 after publication.

The remaining three Beatles met on July 25, 1983 and agreed to jointly acquire the ATV stake. However, they were prevented from doing so by third parties or were not informed of a purchase opportunity. Due to a requirement of the British regulator IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority), ATV's parent company, the ACC (Associated Communications Cooperation), had to privatize 49% of its shares in ATV . As early as September 1981, the Australian billionaire Robert Holmes à Court acquired 25% of the non-voting preference shares in ACC, a short time later he already owned 51% of the capital. In early 1982, Holmes took over the company for 46.5 million US dollars. For a long time it remained uncertain whether the lucrative subsidiary ATV Music should be separated and offered for sale independently. Holmes, known for asset stripping, finally dismantled the group into individual parts, so that ATV-Music with around 4,000 copyrights was up for sale.

In September 1984, Jackson learned of the opportunity to purchase the ATV catalog. On November 20, 1984, he had his lawyer submit a purchase offer of $ 46 million. After Jackson increased his offer to $ 47.5 million, he was accepted in mid-August 1985. Paul McCartney, at odds with Lennon's widow Yoko Ono , was unwilling to raise this relatively large sum.

Elton John is discovered

Fluff - Holly Golightly, one of the first releases by DJM Records in March 1969 (DJM 206)
Elton John - Lady Samantha

During the competition for Northern Songs , which was also conducted through judicial means , Dick James was lucky again. In response to an advertisement published on June 17, 1967 in the British music magazine New Musical Express , a certain Reginald Kenneth Dwight applied as a talent. Sound engineer Caleb Quaye made over 30 test recordings with the later Elton John in the DJM recording studios between June and December 1967, of which Dick James initially knew nothing. When he found out, he gave the talent, who had trained in classical music at the Royal Academy of Music , on November 7, 1967, together with lyricist Bernie Taupin, a publishing contract with DJM Music . The founding of DJM Records followed on February 28, 1969, on which from then on the Elton-John recordings appeared until September 1976 in the distribution of Pye Records . Up to that point in time, Elton John was also bound by the publishing contract with DJM Music. It envisaged 18 compositions annually with a royalty of 10% of the retail price of records sold.

The music publisher registered as the first composition of the new team I've Been Loving You / Here's to the Next Time , which were produced in December 1967 / January 1968 and released as a single on March 1, 1968. Elton John's voice was amplified with overdubbing . The first success for Elton John came with the following single Lady Samantha , a cynical ballad that was released in January 1969 and at least received airplay on the BBC. John became the most prominent representative in the DJM catalog, because in 1975 his record sales reached 42 million albums and 18 million singles worldwide. The DJM record label was able to achieve second place in Great Britain with the instrumental hit Groovin 'with Mr. Bloe by Mr. Bloe in May 1975, otherwise production was largely past the charts. In October 1976 Elton John distanced himself from the influence of the mighty Dick James and released his records on his own label, Rocket Records ("The Rocket Recording Company"), which was founded in 1973 , while he wrote his compositions for his own music publisher Big Pig Music Ltd. left.

Elton John is litigating Dick James Music

In February 1982, Elton John prepared a trial against Dick James Music, whose business was now run by Dick James' son Stephen James. No sooner had the problems with the Beatles copyrights been resolved than the publisher was confronted with new conflicts. The lawsuit was aimed at the return of the copyright administered by the publisher to Elton John / Bernie Taupin compositions as well as for compensation for incorrect billing of royalties by foreign subsidiaries of the DJM Verlag. Specifically, Elton John requested the return of 144 songs that were composed between 1967 and 1973. Under-billing claims for damages were estimated at around £ 1 million. The proceedings began on June 5, 1985 and provided insights into the financial situation of those involved. While Elton John had earned a total of £ 13.4 million from the record deal and £ 1.14 million from compositions by December 1982, the DJM publishers had to disclose their worldwide profits of 2.6 million and DJM Records a total of 8.5 million pounds surpluses. The November 29, 1985 judgment ruled Elton John right, calling the publishing contract with DJM an inadequate and harsh arrangement and presumably awarding plaintiffs unconfirmed £ 5 million in damages.

The trial had hit Dick James hard, because less than 3 months after the verdict he died of a heart attack on February 1, 1986. His son Stephen continued the business of the publisher, which has now grown to 12,000 copyrights, but sold it to PolyGram in October 1986 . In turn, PolyGram became part of Universal Music Group in 1999 as part of a wave of mergers in the music industry , from its subsidiary Universal Music Publishing .

References and comments

  1. ↑ The original was the German hit You can not be faithful by Gerhard Ebeler (text) and Hans Otten (music) from the film of the same name, which was released in German cinemas on February 11, 1936
  2. ↑ a b The House That James Built . In: Billboard-Magazin of September 18, 1971, p. 17 ( digitized in the Google book search)
  3. ↑ recorded on January 13, 1963
  4. ^ Bill Harry: The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia , 1993, p. 339.
  5. ↑ the music publisher receives 100% royalties from the collecting society and in the standard case passes on 50% of this to the composers
  6. ^ Brian Southall, Rupert Perry: Northern Songs - The True Story of the Beatles' Song Publishing Empire . 2007, p. 7
  7. ↑ because of her minor compositional activity
  8. ^ Bill Harry: The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia , 1993, p. 340.
  9. ^ Brian Southall, Rupert Perry: Northern Songs - The True Story of the Beatles' Song Publishing Empire . 2007, p. 216
  10. ↑ more precisely to their music publishing subsidiary ATV Music Publishing, which initially managed the publishing rights for theme songs from television programs
  11. ↑ Nordic songs . In: Die Zeit , No. 19/1969
  12. ^ Brian Southall, Rupert Perry: Northern Songs - The True Story of the Beatles' Song Publishing Empire . 2007, p. 133.
  13. ^ New York Times, August 16, 1985, Beatles' song Rights Reported Sold
  14. ↑ Jack Doyle: Michael & McCartney , 1990s-2009 PopHistoryDig.com, July 7, 2009
  15. ^ Susan Crimp, Patricia Burstein: The Many Lives of Elton John . 1992, p. 37
  16. ^ Susan Crimp, Patricia Burstein: The Many Lives of Elton John . 1992, p. 236 ff.
  17. ^ Susan Crimp, Patricia Burstein: The Many Lives of Elton John . 1992, p. 239.
  18. ^ PolyGram Bows Publishing Unit . In: Billboard-Magazin , November 15, 1986, p. 6 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  19. ^ Brian Southall, Rupert Perry: Northern Songs - The True Story of the Beatles' Song Publishing Empire . 2007, p. 23
personal data
SURNAME James, Dick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vapnick, Richard Leon Isaac (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British singer and music publisher
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH London ( Whitechapel )
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1986
Place of death London ( Whitechapel )