In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

13 chapter Mercury Rising and the Roulette Wheel Cast of Characters Luigi Creatore, A&R man with Mercury, Roulette, and RCA Victor (with Hugo Peretti as Hugo & Luigi) Jean Bennett, Buck Ram’s secretary, Personality Productions Shelby Singleton, Mercury Records vice president also featuring Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, independent record producers and record men; and Morris Levy, Roulette Records In the monochrome culture of the early 1950s, the bettermanaged pioneering independent labels were adding welcome color to the musical landscape because they had the energized rhythm and blues sector more or less to themselves. R&B music was evolving into a catchall term covering everything from raw gutbucket blues and cool after-hours sounds to booting sax-led band blasters, rhythmic novelties , slinky instrumentals, and melodic doo-wop ballads. Attracted by annual sales spikes of up to 40 percent, new indie entrants were popping all the time. By 1953, there were around one hundred active labels, yet the market share for rhythm and blues was still relatively small at an estimated 5.7 percent of the total record business, according to perceptive Billboard reporter Bob Rolontz. In addition to pop music, the categories for classical, children’s, and country were all bigger than R&B. Only jazz, Latin American, and international music lagged behind.1 i-xvi_1-592_Brov.indd 231 11/19/09 10:44:35 AM 232 the hustle is on Rolontz embellished his report by stating that an R&B hit “can go over the 300,000 mark, but such hits are most rare.” Any record that exceeded 40,000 was considered a “hit,” and one that touched 100,000 was a “big hit.” However, “a so-so R&B record has a rough time selling over 1,000 platters,” a poorer average than elsewhere. He concluded by observing that “the r.&b. field . . . remains alive, exciting and precarious.” Specifically, there were those conspicuous trends of R&B discs breaking into the main pop markets and of southern distributors seeking R&B product for white teen demand.2 The industry at large, therefore, was starting to take notice of the way rhythm and blues music was developing in the hands of the independents. This monopolyby -stealth situation could not prevail for long in a market that was preparing itself for explosive growth with the onset of rock ’n’ roll (itself a loose amalgam of rhythm and blues, country and western, gospel, and pop music of all denominations). At the start of 1955, Billboard’s Bob Rolontz, again, highlighted the benefits of the predominant R&B trend when he wrote: “A lot of pop a.& r. men are thankful to the r.& b. field for many new songs, new artists, and new musical ideas and arrangements.”3 “Rock ’n’ roll’s time had come,” said Johnny Otis. “There was a tremendous campaign by the white establishment against the blacks when rock ’n’ roll became big. They pointed to the effect of degenerate black lyrics on white youths. It was racism at heart. Not only Basie and Ellington but ‘slum’ bands like mine and Roy Milton[‘s] were playing ballrooms and drawing large crowds. Whites and blacks were rubbing shoulders together. This is what rankled.” Smelling the rock ’n’ roll cash bonanza, the big corporations began reviewing their strategies with haste. With the exception of Capitol, the majors proceeded to organize or ramp up separate R&B divisions: RCA Victor with Groove, Columbia with OKeh, Decca with Coral and Brunswick, and Mercury with Wing. Mercury’s vice president Art Talmadge, now A&R chief, summed up the prevailing mood by saying that Wing’s musical policy was “anything with a beat.”4 Were the independent label owners aware of this looming threat from the majors? King’s Syd Nathan was, for one. While riding high with the 1954 crossover hit “Hearts of Stone” by the Charms, he implored his A&R staff to monitor the majors’ R&B releases . Citing two different vocal group records on Capitol, he said that King should “stop the majors” by covering their breaking hits on back-to-back singles. “We do not have the resources of the major companies,” admitted Nathan, “so we’ve got to get there in a Ford while they’re trying to get there in a Cadillac.”5 Regardless, the major labels began to prey on their independent brethren to headhunt select name artists and record producers. For all their resources, the majors were missing out on two vital ingredients: the intuitive feel of the indie record men for the music and their inimitable way of doing business. i-xvi_1-592_Brov.indd 232 11/19/09 10:44...

Share