Then there was Starday’s shady deal with Glen Campbell

Previously in the book: Nebraskan Hal Neely began his career touring with big bands and worked his way into the King records, producing rock and country songs. Along the way he worked with James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, who referred to Neely as his favorite uncle.
No one knows how much the problems with Little Willie John and James Brown weighed on Hal Neely’s mind during this time. Nathan, because of his health, closed his many branch offices around the country in 1964 and “kinda got out of the record business,” according to Jim Wilson. But James Brown had taken “dubs” of a record, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” and passed them around the radio stations. This created such a demand for that record that Nathan felt he had to get back into business and go to independent distributors since he had closed branches.19
Nathan’s personnel management practices were not easy to deal with either. “Of course, with King there was never any overtime,” Wilson said. “With those who were on a time-clock basis, at the end of your day, that was it. You did work overtime. And my gang (in the Detroit office) would do some nice work there real late. Well, how do I compensate for that? Like my warehouse man who was with me till I moved to Nashville in 1965, I gave him two extra weeks’ vacation a year, in addition to the two that he had. As I said, we had a nice, tight little organization. If a secretary wanted to take off and go shopping someday, all I needed (was for her) to let me know in advance, and I’d come in and cover for her. I did her work. That’s the way we kinda built it. It was kind of all our operation, but King paid the bills.”20
Perhaps Nathan’s indecisiveness on whether or not to retire provoked Hal Neely to leave his position as president/general manager of King to join Starday Records in Nashville. According to Wilson, Neely had been business friends with Don Pierce, president of Starday. King pressed all of Starday’s album product.21 Pierce first became friendly with Syd Nathan who had helped him with a record promotion deal in 1953. “I’ll never forget it,” Pierce said. “It’s great to have friends like Syd Nathan.”22
By the early 1960s Pierce was well respected on Nashville’s Music Row, releasing 50 to 75 singles annually, and by 1964 was considered to be one of the hot trendsetters during a massive surge in country music popularity. Wilson said he believed Pierce’s hiring of Neely as vice president and general manager relieved Pierce of many responsibilities and enabled the company to continue to grow.23
Pierce explained it this way: “In 1964, the Country Music Association, where I was a director, asked me for about the third time if I would start a golf tournament that would help create desirable publicity for country music and the Association. I thought it over, and I had by this time acquired Hal Neely’s services to assist me in the operation of Starday, and I felt that I could do this job.”24
Billboard Magazine reported in its Oct. 31, 1964 issue:

The acquisition of Neely by Starday is expected to permit Pierce
to be more active in sales and promotion of his Country Music Record
Club of America. Pierce said that the need for Neely’s service lies
in Starday’s expanding albums and singles catalogue, its growing
publication activity and the demands of the record club operation.
Pierce said Neely brings to Starday much know-how due to his long-time
association with King. Starday will continue to press and ship its
album line from Royal Plastics, the King plant in Cincinnati. Neely
had much to do with the operations of this plant.

Wilson, because of Nathan’s decision to close the branch offices, faced the unpleasant prospect of leaving his office in Detroit and moving to Cincinnati to “help tear down a ship which I had been a part of building.”
In March of 1965 he received a phone call from Hal Neely, with whom he had become acquainted over the years. “Why don’t you come down to Nashville? I want to talk to you. There might be something cookin’ here I think you’d be interested in,” Neely said.
“So I came down and met with both Hal and Don Pierce. I’ve known of Don over the years, but I don’t recall having met him previously. And what they were looking for, they wanted a sales manager to handle Starday worldwide. So I discussed this with my family and decided to move to Nashville in April of 1965.” Once in Nashville he worked mostly with Neely.25
“He(Neely) worked in all areas,” Wilson said. “But he and I worked more in the promotion and the marketing, was our main thrust. So that way it gave us a pretty good team. We hashed things around as to maybe ‘we ought to try doing this or cutting that. So we had respect for each other’s abilities and talents there. Now, we might discuss something sometime and call attention to certain sounds or types of songs that were generating action in the marketplace, merely to make an awareness to our A&R department.”26
The separation from Syd Nathan had been amicable for both Neely and Wilson. In fact, Neely attended King Records’ 25th anniversary party held at Nathan’s home in 1967. Nathan was presented with a cardboard and velvet crown and called the “King of King.” Everyone had a good time and politely ignored the fact that the party was a year early.27
While Nathan’s future was questionable, these years went very well for Hal Neely and Starday. In 1967 Don Pierce said he was offered some demonstration tracks recorded on Glen Campbell who was a very popular performer at that time. He gambled on buying them without even hearing them.
“They were terrible!” Pierce said, “but we released them anyway and when the album came out, of course Glen complained and I heard Capitol (Campbell’s record label) complain too. He sued us and Glen’s lawyer, who was a Nashville lawyer that I knew, asked me to explain to him what constituted a demonstration record. I told them as far as I was concerned, any time an artist sang in front of a microphone, knowing that the music was going to be recorded and available for reproduction, that he had just made a phonograph record. And I didn’t see any distinction between a commercial record and a demonstration record. In both cases, the artist sang into a microphone material to be recorded and played at another time. And I felt that a recording was a recording. And we proceeded on that basis and we eventually settled the case for about $10,000 or $12,000. Glen played in the golf tournament that I created and it ended up on a friendly basis.”28
Two albums, Country Soul and Country Music Star were released, marketed as though they were new recordings by Glen Campbell and became moneymakers for Starday, selling more than 27,000 copies within the first three months. Neely played a role in this maneuvering as outlined in a 1971 memo to Pierce: “Please note that we have settled this claim on the basis of $12,000 plus royalties. A total amount of $21,012.61. Needless to say, this is a very good settlement. It is exactly what we agreed to do be agreed to do before the action started.”29
Neely became a fixture in the Nashville social scene. Larry Finley said in his April 2, 1966, Tape Cartridge Tips column in Billboard Magazine that he had recently visited Nashville as the guest of Don Pierce and Hal Neely. “One thing that was most noticeable was the friendly feeling between the various record companies. Don and Hal were most complimentary in telling us stories about Randy Wood, president of Dot Records. Hal Neely was especially busy making preparations for the Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament which was held this past weekend with such stars as Perry Como, Lawrence Welk, Dizzy Dean, Buck Owens, Leslie Gore, Pete Fountain, Woody Woodbury, Sonny James, Eddie Arnold, Minnie Pearl and others. Golf pros included Mason Rudolph, Byron Nelson, Tommy Bolt, Joe Campbell and others.”
Billboard reported on the golf tournament the next year in its Oct. 8, 1967, issue, quoting Neely as saying the number of “name” golf pros would probably double from the previous year. The budget for the tournament was set at $37,000.
Neely traveled quite extensively as Starday general manager. Billboard Magazine reported in its March 4, 1967, issue that Neely spoke to the National Association of Record Merchandisers in Los Angeles about the growth of the country western music industry and profiled the typical C&W record buyer. Billboard also wrote about his trip to Europe in its May, 24, 1967, edition where he negotiated licensing agreement renewals with Peter Maurice and also conferred with British Decca and Lark Music companies.
Bill Williams in his Nashville Scene column of Billboard said in April 8, 1967, “Hardworking Hal Neely of Starday was the man behind CMA’s most recent presentations. A man of ability and indefatigability, he is also the driving force of the Music City Golf Tournament.”
Victoria Wise, who would eventually marry Neely, gave her version of Faron Young’s Christmas party in December of 1967which Neely recounted in his memoirs. Wise described Neely that night as “holding court.” 30 It is interesting to note the slight variations in the stories of this time in their lives.
“What this industry needs is new blood,” Neely said.
Wise stepped forward from the party crowd. “I have new blood.”
Neely set up an appointment to interview her on January 2. Wise paid a girlfriend $20 to drive her to the Starday headquarters in a snowstorm where he hired her to handle public relations and artist relations. Two days later they and 20 other people from Starday flew to Las Vegas for James Brown’s opening at Caesar’s Palace. Before the first show Neely hosted a party for James Brown and his entourage. Wise remembered that among the guests was Michael Nesbeth, one of the Monkees. Wayne Cochran, whose CC Riders Band was booked into Caesar’s 4 a.m. lounge show, was invited to the party but did not attend because he was jealous of James Brown. When Neely and West settled into their seats for the concert and the lights came up they were in for a big surprise.31
In an attempt to appeal to the older and mostly white audiences at Las Vegas, Brown expanded his band and added strings. Amidst smoke machines he came out singing “If I Ruled the World,” “It’s Magic,” and “September Song.” “Like I say, when I am on stage I’m aware of everything from the shine on the band’s shoes to how the people in the back row are reacting,” Brown recalled that night in his autobiography. “That night they were reacting well. The applause came, but it was too polite, too restrained. After a little while I got that feeling every entertainer has had at one time or another: I felt I was dying out there, and here it was opening night.”
“This was not what James Brown ought to be,” Wise said, “and Hal was antsy. He went to the lightbox. After intermission James Brown didn’t use the orchestra but had a small group.”32
“Mr. Neely caught on, though,” Brown said in his autobiography. “When he saw what was happening he jumped out of his seat and ran upstairs to the control room. Nobody up there was calling the light now because the key sheet from the rehearsal didn’t mean anything anymore. The union people didn’t want to let him do it, but he started calling the lights and the sound anyway. He had seen me work 100 times so he didn’t have any problem. Pretty soon all those people in their minks and suits were up on their seats, hollering and carrying on. I never worked harder in my life, and we killed them. Dead.”
After the performance Wise said she and Neely went to a small room to see Wayne Cochran but then went to Brown’s party. “Hal had more energy,” Wise said. “He burned the candle at both ends. He got energy from other people who were 20 to 30 years younger than himself.”33
The exhilaration of the Las Vegas trip did not last long for Wise. Immediately afterwards Starday experienced an unexpected downturn of sales so Wise–being the last one to be hired–was the first of be fired. “I was angry and left immediately,” she said, “but Hal said I’d have to come back to get her last check.”
When she returned to the office after 5 p.m. she discovered four people still there having a happy hour. “Hal insisted I stay for a drink. I was scared of Hal, who would pretend to be angry.” She and her girlfriend invited Neely and Jim Wilson to dinner at their apartment. Wilson couldn’t come, but Neely joined them. Wise remembered being locked out of the apartment so Neely drove them to the property manager’s office for the key. Later, Neely and the manager of the Beach boys took Wise and her friend to see singer Ronnie Prophet of Canada on Printers Alley.
“It was the first time I talked to him as a person and not the boss,” Wise said. “He was interesting. We could talk for hours all through the night.”34
As Neely was developing his new life in Nashville, life finally ended for Syd Nathan. He died on March 5, 1968, in Miami Beach, Florida, of heart disease complicated by pneumonia. He was 64 years old.35
Not only was this sad news for Hal Neely and James Brown, it was especially bad for Little Willie John who was languishing in a Washington state penitentiary. Even though Nathan and Neely had blocked his big break with Capitol Records, John held no grudges. Neely said he visited John in prison and attempted to have him released. Some cynical sources attribute Neely’s attentions to the fact that the singer was probably worth more money to him out of prison than in; nevertheless, he still tried to help. John died on May 26, 1968, in the prison hospital. The official cause of death was listed as heart attack.36
However the prosecuting attorney in his case, Art Swanson, said, “I don’t think there’s any question that he was assaulted in prison and that he died because of congestive lung failure, because of fluid in the lungs, which occurs because of a fall. Willie popped off, he had a big mouth, and they don’t take that sort of thing. I’m sure he got into a fight and somebody killed him.”37
Shortly after John’s death, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis during a strike by garbage workers. “When the shock wore off,” Brown said in his autobiography, “I called Mr. Neely and talked to him for a long time about the assassination. Like a lot of people, I knew it was going to bring a great deal of violence, burning and death, and I knew everyone would lose by it. I didn’t want it to happen, and knew Martin wouldn’t want it to happen. I told Mr. Neely I wish there was something I could do to prevent it.” Brown decided to go live on radio stations in Knoxville and Baltimore to urge people to respect the memory of Dr. King by remaining peaceful. “A lot of people didn’t want to hear that and didn’t understand it. There were bomb threats, death threats. Some of the threats came to Mr. Neely and King Records. I didn’t pay any attention to them.”
On August 12, 1968, James Brown lost another member of his surrogate family when his personal agent Ben Bart dropped dead of a heart attack after playing golf with his son Jack on a Long Island course.38
“That was probably one of the lowest points of my whole life. For most of us, being from Georgia, Pop was the first white person we really felt comfortable with,” Brown comment in his autobiography.
However, Brown and Bart did have legal disagreements. Jack Bart explained it this way: “James Brown owed my father in excess of about $185,000. I guess James Brown’s popularity got in the way of his clear thinking. My father had no choice but to file suit with attorney Barry Zisser of Jacksonville, Florida. Attorney Zisser took a very proactive stance, got judgment and started attaching the box office at each concert that James Brown was working. When James Brown found out after the money in the first box office was tied up, he asked my father to lift the lock on the box office. My father did not release the lock but allowed the promoter at that venue to give James Brown enough money to pay his band, and the rest was sent to Ben Bart’s lawyer. This went on for quite some time until the full amount of monies was in fact paid. The relationship between my father and James Brown remained good throughout this time. And my father remained James Brown’s manager until his passing in 1968.”39
And now the only member of his surrogate family he had left was Hal Neely.
Footnotes
19 Jim Wilson Interview.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
22 Gibson, Nathan, The Starday Story: The House that Country Music Built, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 16.
23 Jim Wilson Interview.
24 Starday Story, 137.
25 Jim Wilson Interview.
26 Ibid.
27 King of the Queen City, 182.
28 The Starday Story, 158-159.
29 Ibid., 159.
30 Victoria Wise Interview May 2011.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 King of the Queen City, 182.
36 Fever, 176.
37 Ibid., 178.
38 Life of James Brown, 132.
39 Jack Bart Interview June 2012.