LIBERTY RECORDS A History of the Recording Company and Its Stars, 1955-1971

h Michael "Doc Rock" Kelly

with a foreword by SI WARONKER

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London Contents

Acknowledgments vii Foreword xiii Preface xv

Part One : Anatomy of a Record Label

1 Rock 'n' Roll Record Labels 3 2 Liberty in the Beginning 7 3 1955 The Liberty Girl, Julie London 13 4 1956 The Little Liberty Girls, Patience and Prudence 19 5 1957 Eddie Cochran, Snuff Garrett, Sharon Sheeley, and Margie Rayburn 23 6 1958 "Witch Doctor" and the Chipmunks 43 7 1959 Martin Denny, Bobby Vee, Dolphin Records, the Fleetwoods, the Frantics, and Little Bill and the Blue Notes 52 8 I960 Johnny Burnette, Buddy Knox, Ernie Freeman, and the Ventures 77 9 1961 Avnet, Gene McDaniels, Timi Yuro, Vic Dana, Troy Shondell, and Dick and DeeDee 101 10 1962 The Crickets, Jan & Dean, the Marketts, the Rivingtons, Danny and Gwen, Walter Brennan, Jackie DeShannon, Willie Nelson, and Vikki Carr 131 11 1963 Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, and More from Bobby Vee, Jan & Dean, Jackie DeShannon, the Fleetwoods, and the Crickets 164 12 1964 Matt Monro, Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, the Searchers, the Beatles, Irma Thomas, Johnny Rivers, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and the Hollies 199 x Contents

13 1965 Gary Lewis and the Playboys, P. J. Proby, T-Bones, Hal Blaine, O'Jays, Jimmy McCracklin, and Cher 222 14 Liberty Stereo Little LPs, EPs, 78s, and Picture Sleeves 261 15 1966 Bob Lind and Del Shannon 267 16 Liberty Acquisitions, Special Series, and Subsidiaries 282 17 1967 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Vikki Carr, Hardtimes, Love Generation, Sunshine Company, Classics IV, and the Fifth Dimension 313 18 1968 Canned Heat and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tich 326 19 1969 The Fifth Dimension and Also-Rans 332 20 1970 Ike and Tina Turner and Sugarloaf 334 21 1971 Liberty in the End 336

Part Two : Making Liberty Hit Records

22 Music Publishing—Metric Music 341 23 Record Producing 348 24 Recording Music 356 25 Engineering a Hit 363 26 Picturing Music 375 27 Promoting Records 378 28 Publicity 396 29 Selling Records 399 30 Distributing Records 402 31 Merchandising Records 405 32 Radio Airplay 407

Part Three : Four Liberty Superstars

33 Bobby Vee 415 34 The Ventures 442 35 Jackie DeShannon 457 36 Jan & Dean 470 Contents xi

Part Four : The End of Liberty

37 Selling Liberty ... and Selling It and Selling It 515 38 Life After Liberty 522 39 Overview 526 40 Epilogue: Where Did They Go? 528

Appendixes

1 #1 Hits 551 2 Artists in the Top 200 553 3 Liberty, Dolton, Imperial, and Soul City Top Rankings 554 4 The Top Liberty, Dolton, and Imperial Hit Makers 556 5 The Top Twenty Liberty Family Artists 558 6 Percentage of Success 559 7 Chronological Hit Lists 560 8 Graphs of Hits Per Year 565 9 Top 100 Hits by Artists 568 10 Top 100 Hits Listed by Month and Year 589 11 Singles Discography 603 12 Liberty LP and EP Discography 726 13 Liberty Family 45 Sleeves and Labels 750

Index 757