records through a production label with At- lantic distribution, but now they’d formed an independent label “Capricorn Records” and asked me to promote the new company and move to Macon. They offered half the pay I’d made at Atlantic, but if the venture was a suc- cess I figured with perks it could work, but for the time being we put our conversation on hold.
Back in Atlanta, everyone I talked to in
the music business advised me not to get in- volved with the new label as it may hurt my chance for a major label job. They raised some good points but were curious why the label was based in Macon Georgia and they reminded me that their acts were barely known outside the south. Taking their advice under considera-
tion and also being aware of several things that happened while I was away worried me; (1) Duane Allman, the leader of their best known group had been tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. And the talk in the music business was it was over for the band because no group had ever come back from the loss of their leader. (2) Also, Phil and Frank had split from Atlantic Records distri- bution, and (3) Phil and Frank had cut a new distribution deal with Warner Brothers Record, and at the time their biggest selling artist was still Frank Sinatra. In my experience, promotion is the en-
gine room of the music business, nothing moves until promotion moves it. I’ve seen many great records get lost in the shuffle due to not having any promotion. Frank and Phil knew little about getting artist’s airplay, be- cause the promotion staff at Atlantic Records had always done it for them. While thinking it over, producer
Johnny Sadlin invited me to his home to lis- ten to some new tracks by the Allman Broth- ers… and I was knocked out. I was sold, but I knew it would be the challenge of a lifetime to make the new label a success. With the All- man Brothers music swirling in my head, I
pulled the trigger, said yes to Frank and Phil, sold my Atlanta home and moved to the sleepy ol’ river town of Macon.
Tell me about Phil. The first time I met Phil Walden he was with his father backstage at an Otis Redding show in Atlanta. Phil managed Otis and I worked for Southland who distributed Otis’s records along with other “Walden Artists & Booking” acts; Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, Bobby Womack, Albert Collins, Arthur Conley, Al Green, Joe Tex, Albert King, Eddie Floyd, so I frequently met Phil at his artist’s shows. Phil and I hit it off mainly because we
had mutual music business interests. Back then he was a quiet almost shy kind of guy who didn’t have much to say to anyone. But of course that all that changed with success, let’s pause there for now, more later…
Tell me about Frank. I met Frank and his beautiful wife Kiki (who by the way, was an honest to goodness Baroness) at an Atlantic Records convention in the Bahamas. My wife hit it off with Kiki ,and Frank and I had much in common so we became friends. At the time Frank was the At- lantic Records representative for Europe and the UK. Frank was a real man’s man he’d been a golden-gloves champ in his home country of South Africa and in London Frank was surrounded by society friends and Rock Royalty he was a center of influence in popu- lar music. Frank was also a passionate lover of R&B, Blues, Jazz and Rock and had an en- cyclopedic knowledge of it all. We kept in touch and met in Los Ange-
les again at Atlantic’s convention in 1969. Frank shocked every one at Atlantic by mov- ing from London to Macon Georgia to partner with artist manager Phil Walden. It was com- mon knowledge he was being groomed by founder and chairman Ahmet Ertegun to run the entire Atlantic Records operation and no
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