History

During the early 1960s, Roulette scored a number of hits connected to the Twist craze, most notably by releasing "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee and the Starliters. They also released a rare album of "Twist songs" by Bill Haley & His Comets, Twistin' Knights at the Roundtable. Other major 1960s hits for the label include "Two Faces Have I" by Lou Christie, "Mony Mony", "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells, among others. It was also on the Roulette label that, in 1964, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay first recorded together while in the nine-member A Go Go Singers, house band for the Cafe A Go Go in New York. Also a group of United States Marines called The Essex recorded the hit "Easier Said Than Done" while based at Camp LeJuene in the 1960s. It should also be noted that the label was a front business for the Genovese crime family, per Tommy James of Tommy James and the Shondells, during the time their above songs were hits. The label owes them $30 to $40 million dollars but would not pay them.

In April 1965, the British music magazine, NME reported that Roulette had agreed to offer a sponsored show to the UK's pirate radio station, Radio Caroline. The hour-long show, recorded in the U.S. by DJ Jack Spector was to be broadcast five evenings a week. The contract covered a two year period and was worth over £10,000 to the station.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Roulette was one of the major distributors, handling records for many major firms.

Although founded by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson, Morris Levy would be the key financial founder for another project, the rap music label, Sugar Hill Records in 1974. The rap label would create the first Top 40 rap single, "Rapper's Delight," in 1979. In the early 1980s, the Robinsons bought Levy out.

In 1981, Henry Stone turned to Levy to help salvage the demise of TK Records, so they set up Sunnyview Records under the Roulette umbrella. In 1986, Levy was exposed and convicted for extorting money from an FBI informant, John LaMonte. Levy was tried and convicted on charges of extortion but died in Ghent, New York before serving any time in prison. In 1989, Roulette Records was sold to a consortium of EMI and Rhino Records, which later were acquired by The WEA Group (Warner/Elektra/Atlantic). Warner Music Group now has the rights to the Roulette pop/R&B; catalogue in North America, while EMI has the rights in the rest of the world. EMI has the global rights to the jazz catalogue and the "Roulette" name.

It was at this point that Rhino and EMI began issuing large royalty checks to former Roulette artists. Tommy James recalled that his checks were in amounts in six or seven digits. Roulette was notorious for not paying royalties to their artists who had to rely on their gigs for their income.

Today, EMI uses the "Roulette" name for the reissue of old Roulette label material. In the United States, Blue Note Records handles the Roulette jazz catalogue for release on the Roulette Jazz label.

Roulette Records artists

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References

Category:American record labels Category:Record labels established in 1956 Category:Record labels disestablished in 1989 Category:Jazz record labels

Early life and career

In 1965, a local dance promoter, Bob Mack, started playing the song at his Pittsburgh dance clubs, having found a copy of it in a used record bin. It became number one on Pittsburgh radio stations in early 1966.

Songwriter Richie Cordell both wrote, co-wrote, and produced many of the group's hits, among them: "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", and "Mony Mony". The creation of "Mony Mony" was a group effort, involving Cordell, James, Shondells band member Peter Lucia, producer Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom. James and Cordell set out to create a party rock single working out everything except the song's title, which eluded them even after much effort. They took a break from their creative endeavors on James' apartment terrace, when they looked up at the Mutual of New York Insurance Company's large neon sign bearing the abbreviation for the company: M-O-N-Y. Both knew instantaeously their song now had a name.

With "Mony Mony" becoming such a hit in the US and a even bigger one in the UK, James was contacted by Beatle George Harrison, who was working with a group called Grapefruit at the time. Harrison and the group had written some songs they wanted James to consider recording. Since the group came to a decision to change their musical style (and would do so with "Crimson and Clover") and the material Harrison and Grapefruit provided was in the style of "Mony Mony", James turned down their offer.

Tommy James and the Shondells also produced a "Mony Mony" video when the song was a hit, hiring a video company to produce a short film of it. While it seemed sensible to James that musical groups would naturally want to create visual versions of their music, there was no market at all for the film in the US. Television stations would not air it and it was originally shown between double features in movie theaters in Europe. The film was not seen in the US until the creation of MTV.

Music and the mob

What was evident when James first met Morris Levy, the head of Roulette Records, was that the company was willing to strongarm others when they felt it necessary. The signed talent was there to produce money for the company, having their needs met only when it pleased Roulette. Asking to be paid meant intimidation; those under contract to Roulette needed to find other means of generating income which did not involve the record company to survive. While an artist had great creative control when recording for the company, the lack of payment for those efforts was difficult to take.

James estimates the company owed him $30 million dollars in royalties he never received. Roulette was a front for organized crime and also functioned as a place to launder money. He did not feel comfortable writing the book until all those deeply involved with the record company had died.

Solo discography

2004: I Love Christmas (CD single) 2005 Sweet Cherry Wine (CD single) 2005 Isn't that the Guy (CD single) 2006 Lupe & Jo (MP3 single) 2006 Love Words (CD Single) 2006 Hold the Fire

James himself had thirteen charting solo singles, with the three highest-charting being 1971's "Draggin' the Line" (#4), 1980's "Three Times in Love" (#19), and 1971's "I'm Comin' Home" (#40).

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Interviews

Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording on its own, peaking at #14 on Billboard's pop chart. Bowen's version sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Bowen was a less successful singer than Knox, his partner in the Rhythm Orchids, and ultimately he abandoned a singing career, but stayed in the music industry.

In the early 1960s, in Los Angeles, California, he bucked the 1960s rock phenomenon when Frank Sinatra hired him as a record producer for Reprise Records, and Bowen showed a strong knack for production, getting chart hits for Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., all regarded as too old-fashioned for the sixties market. He also produced Dino, Desi & Billy.

Bowen is responsible for bringing Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together. He is also responsible for teaming Nancy up with Mel Tillis for their album, Mel & Nancy.

In 1969 Bowen launched an independent record label, Amos Records, which lasted until 1971. Leaving Los Angeles for Nashville, Tennessee, Bowen became president of a series of record labels, and took each one to country music preeminence. His success stories included Hank Williams, Jr., The Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Suzy Bogguss and, finally, Garth Brooks. Bowen also revolutionized the way music was recorded in Nashville, introducing digital technology and modernizing the way instruments such as drums, for example, were recorded and mixed.

Bowens' spouse is Keely Smith, who was associated with, as well as, married to Louis Prima.

Bowen is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and holds an MBA with honors from Belmont University.

References

Further reading

Category:1937 births Category:American country musicians Category:American record labels Category:American record producers Category:Apex Records artists Category:Belmont University alumni Category:Crest Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni