Subject: RE: Mike Vernon<\/p>\n
Bob, John Mayall never used my service to find musicians but his wife’s all female band “Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs” used me several times. \u00a0Anyway, Sammy, Mayall’s 10 year old son, (this was in 2005) was on my kid’s Little League baseball team. John would attend most every game in Woodland Hills, always sitting by himself in a fold-up chair he brought, never sitting in the bleachers with the rest of us. \u00a0Maybe he thought he would be recognized but I doubt if any of the baseball parents knew who he was.\u00a0 But I did.<\/p>\n
Sterling Howard, founder\/owner<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.MusiciansContact.com<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/p>\n
From: Richard Gottehrer<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Mike Vernon<\/p>\n
Hi Bob<\/p>\n
He was a producer…. he produced records with Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack (the eventual combination of which formed the basis of the legendary Fleetwood Mac), Savoy Brown, 10 Years After, and “Hocus Pocus” by Focus, the first major hit that Seymour\u00a0and I released on Sire.<\/p>\n
Mike’s greatness and contribution to the industry stemmed from his understanding of history and his desire\u00a0to revive an awareness of the music form that had the greatest impact on contemporary rock music……The Blues.<\/p>\n
Mike and his brother Richard started a label called, Blue Horizon to find and record legendary blues artists from an earlier time. Some they found were\u2026 Victoria Spivey, Otis Spann, Buhhka White and Chapion Jack Dupree. That\u2019s where we come in.<\/p>\n
Mike was making a record with Champion Jack at the Decca Studios in London and\u00a0 Seymour happened to be there. Jack had been promised $200 for the session and wanted to be paid before recording but Mike didn\u2019t have the cash. Seymour volunteered to pay it and that began our relationship with Mike Vernon.<\/p>\n
It led to Sire\u00a0buying half of Blue Horizon and helping the label become a leader in bringing renewed attention to the blues and developing hits with Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack and the solo hit by Christine Perfect, \u201cI\u2019d Rather Go Blind,\u201d originally recorded by Etta James on Chess.<\/p>\n
Another interesting memory is when Seymour and I received our revenue share from the success of “Albatross.” We bought a small Brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, painted it blue and named it Blue Horizon House. That of course became the office of Sire Records as well. Those were great times.<\/p>\n
Mike Vernon should be remembered and celebrated but that’s generally not how it goes once you’re gone. Seymour should also be remembered for the great things he did: not just for the music he brought to us but for his love and understanding of what came before.<\/p>\n
Each new generation seems to live in the moment, which is good, but those who remember and understand history and value the past become the Great Producers.<\/p>\n
Final note:\u00a0 Blue Horizon still exists as part of Fat Possum Records a great contemporary label that understands history and just happens to be distributed by The Orchard.<\/p>\n
Richard Gottehrer<\/p>\n
(Founder), The Orchard<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/p>\n
From: Harvey Goldsmith<\/p>\n
Subject: RE: Re-Donald Tarlton<\/p>\n
Donald was a friend and colleague.<\/p>\n
One day I arrived in my office to find a young person sitting at reception.<\/p>\n
I went to my office and phoned reception to see who this person was.<\/p>\n
He came into my office and gave me a note:<\/p>\n
Dear Harvey,<\/p>\n
This is Norman please look after him.<\/p>\n
Donald.<\/p>\n
Norman was Norman Perry<\/p>\n
He lived in my house for 6 months and I taught everything about the business.<\/p>\n
His brother in-law Riley O Connor arrived and duly did the same.<\/p>\n
When their visas were up, I went to Donald and Michael Cohl and told them to set up Norman\/Riley in Vancouver as they did not have a presence in that city.<\/p>\n
Riley continues to be a great Canadian Promoter.<\/p>\n
Norman does merchandising after helping to buy my merchandising company Brockum for Michael.<\/p>\n
A fun golfer, a raconteur, but most importantly a brilliant promoter with the best sense of humour.<\/p>\n
They do not make them like that anymore .He will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n
________________________________________<\/p>\n
From: Stephen Budd<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Mike Vernon<\/p>\n
Hi Bob,<\/p>\n
I just wanted to drop you a note after reading your beautiful piece about Mike Vernon.\u00a0I\u2019ve copied Mike\u2019s two daughters here in case they haven\u2019t seen your piece, I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll really appreciate it.<\/p>\n
I had the privilege of managing Mike as a record producer for over 15 years in his later career, after being introduced to him by Gus Dudgeon, who was Mike\u2019s engineer in those early Decca Studios days before going on to an extraordinary career himself.<\/p>\n
Mike really was an extraordinary music man.<\/p>\n
His love of the blues, his knack for drawing out such special performances, and his ability to blend those British blues savants with psychedelic-tinged rock \u2014 along with the huge respect he commanded from the musicians he worked with, will stay with people for a long time.<\/p>\n
As a kid, I remember buying Hocus Pocus as a 7\u201d, it was thrilling then, and still is now. Mike also played in (with Pete Wingfield) and produced the UK funk band Olympic Runners, another act I loved as a teen, who had a hit with the theme from The Bitch and several others on both sides of the pond, rare for those days.<\/p>\n
As Mike once said: \u201cBarry Hammond, the engineer, would always keep a 2-track quarter-inch tape running to catch us jamming between takes, \u00a0then we\u2019d use that as the basis for the next track. It was painless; we made album after album that way. It only took a couple of weeks out of the year, and we were selling records. For the first few years the band were completely anonymous, people assumed we were a US act\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
On a personal level, he was also one of the easiest clients I\u2019ve ever had, always charming, slightly bashful but fun, thoughtful, and incredibly generous with his time and connections. Only recently he called me about Martha Velez, whom he had worked with back in the 70s, as she needed a bit of guidance.<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e9z released her debut on the Sire\/Blue Horizon label in 1969. The backing musicians included Eric Clapton, Stan Webb (Chicken Shack), and Paul Kossoff (Free) on guitar; Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) on keyboards; Jack Bruce on bass; Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) on drums; and Brian Auger on organ, a line-up that speaks as much to Mike\u2019s pulling power as a producer as it does to Martha\u2019s extraordinary voice.<\/p>\n
That was very Mike,\u00a0always looking out for people.<\/p>\n
He was endlessly enthusiastic about new artists too, particularly those coming from the blues, though as you rightly say, his work reached far beyond that.<\/p>\n
I was also good friends with Seymour, who used to tell me great stories about those early Blue Horizon days with Mike and Richard, and his sharp focus on what was happening across the UK scene at the time.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll leave you with the wonderful Bloodstone in The Midnight Special who Mike also found and produced..<\/p>\n