Brooksville, Florida, Hal Neely’s last home
Previously in the book: Nebraskan Hal Neely began his career touring with big bands and worked his way into Syd Nathan’s 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. Eventually he became one of the owners of Starday-King, until the other owners bought him out. He found himself sitting further back in music industry room. He eventually moved to Florida.

Brooksville, Florida, became Hal Neely’s best friend; both the town and the man were old, mellow, and had come to terms with their pasts. This friendship came about by accident. In 2005 Hanneman was returning to his home in Orlando from an appointment in Tampa when he took a wrong highway and wound up in this small town with old homes and streets canopied with Spanish moss-strewn oak trees. Brooksville’s out-of-the-way serenity struck a chord with Hanneman so he decided to build a house there. He realized that Neely’s health was failing and wanted him to move to Brooksville, too. After his doctor confirmed his condition, Neely agreed to give Hanneman power of attorney. At first he lived in a small apartment but soon moved to an assisted living facility called Tangerine Cove, a block from the old brick courthouse.1
Brooksville was founded in 1856, and citizens decided to name the town in honor of U.S. Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina after Brooks took a cane to U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts during an impassioned debate on slavery. Sumner made a disparaging remark about Brooks’ uncle, which provoked the gentleman from South Carolina to attack the older man from Massachusetts. Sumner took refuge under his desk as Brooks repeatedly swung his cane at him. Finally Sumner tried to crawl from the chamber but Brooks continued his assault. Blood stained the marble floor of Congress. Everyone in the north was horrified. Some historians pointed to the incident as the first bloodshed in the Civil War. Folks in the south, however, applauded Brooks, and the residents of a new Florida village took his name.2
By the first decade of the new millennium Brooksville had left its history behind with an integrated city council and bestowed its highest honor “The Great Brooksvillian” on a black civil rights leader of the 1870s who had been shot to death after performing a marriage ceremony between a black man and a white woman.3
Neely maneuvered about Main Street in his motorized chair, making friends along the way. The second Saturday of every month Neely rolled across the street and down a block behind the county library to a band shell. The local fine arts council received a grant to put on free concerts, and Neely attended every one of them, whether they featured garage bands, nostalgia rock groups composed of local teachers or special evenings of former stars, like the Coasters. When the grant money began to run out, Neely became a cheerleader throughout downtown to raise money to keep the concerts going.
One night he went to a downtown home decor shop where a martini reception was being held in honor of Carl Gardner, one of the original Coasters. Gardner was promoting his autobiography, “Yakety Yak I Fought Back.” Neely spun his wheel chair up to the desk where Gardner sat signing books and copies of CDs of his all-time hits, “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones,” and “Little Egypt,” Every time a guest tried to take a picture Gardner put on his signature grin and gave a thumbs up. Neely, on the other hand, continued his conversation as though photographers were part of his everyday life.
“The music industry was filled with producers who were out to cheat you,” Gardner told the group. Then he pointed at Neely. “But this is the nicest man in the world.”
Because Neely was never voted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame or the Country Music Hall of Fame, he appreciated personal statements of gratitude like the one accorded him by Gardner, but many of his old friends and business associates–the ones who saw Neely in his prime–were disappearing.
His chief rival in claiming the discovery of James Brown, Ralph Bass, died March 5, 1997. Bass was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.4 His associate at King Records, Henry Glover, died April 7, 1991, and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.5 Loyal King associate Jim Wilson died Jan. 30, 1996.6 The brothers who brought about his demise at Starday-King, Johnny and Freddy Bienstock, died in 2006 and 2009, respectively.7 Songwriter Jerry Lieber died in 2011, survived by his partner Mike Stoller.8 Moe Lytle, whom Art Williams said Neely absolutely hated, was still running Gusto Records in 2013.9
In April of 2005 Don Pierce, with whom he had worked at Starday-King in Nashville died at age 89. He had not been voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame either.10 However, Pierce expressed feelings toward the end of his life about Neely that were less than friendly.
Nathan Gibson, author of “The Starday Story,” said Pierce specifically asked him not to involve Hal Neely in his project.
“As I understand it,” Gibson said, “when Hal took over at Starday, many believed he was the cause of Starday’s downfall…excessive spending, poor recording choices, clashing personality with many artists , business/personal relationship woes, and an overall carelessness for the business. Several individuals told me they loved Starday, best job they ever had, but they quit because they couldn’t stand working for Hal.”
During several interviews Gibson said participants told him that if he wanted to know about Hal Neely, he would have to turn off his tape recorder, and they would tell him about Hal Neely. The general feeling among those being interviewed was one of animosity and uneasiness.
“He remains a great mystery to me,” Gibson said, “and to many others.” 11
Those feelings were not shared by everyone. Author Randy McNutt said, “Hal was a good record man, and he was very helpful to me when I was writing the chapter on King Records for ‘Little Labels—Big Sound.’”12
On his birthday a call came into Tangerine Cove for Neely, and the staff could not believe it was Dolly Parton, who had done business with Neely and Starday-King. She wished him a happy birthday.13
Another fan was Al Nicholson, road manager for the Platters when the group toured in 1970 as part of the world’s fair in Okinawa. He also worked with the Drifters and the Coasters. By the middle 2000s Nicholson was entertaining in nursing homes in Florida, and during a performance at Tangerine Cove he looked into the audience to see a familiar face. He had met Neely while working with the Coasters. They renewed their friendship and spent many hours talking about old times, especially with Neely emphasizing his lawsuit against James Brown.
Ever the deal-maker, Neely used his influence with the organizers of the town’s band shell concert to feature Nicholson as an opening act.
“The crowd was screaming, and I had an autograph session with a line of thirty people.” Nicholson continued his visits to Tangerine Cove for long chats with Neely. “He was quite a character,” Nicholson said. “Sometimes he would get confused about his groups. But Hal’s stories were always consistent which gave the impression they were true.”14
Among his new friends were the members of the Brooksville Church of Christ which was about four or five blocks south of downtown. Neely’s grandfather was the first Episcopalian minister west of Mississippi. He grew up as a Methodist in Nebraska away from the influence of tobacco and booze. He was a self-described Irish/Scotch Protestant, joining and supporting the Presbyterian Church for many years. He felt right at home at the Brooksville Church of Christ.
One of his favorite activities in Brooksville was going to a Bible class taught by Abe Guillermo, long-time church member and lay minister. Neely called Guillermo the best damn Christian scholar he ever met.
After three months of going to church, Neely told Guillermo he was ready to be baptized. Neely said he had been raised in a Christian family and belonged to churches but never learned about Jesus until Guillermo taught him. Seventeen church members gathered at a member’s home for the baptism which was conducted in the family’s swimming pool. Neely approached the pool using his walker and gave a two-minute talk about his conversion. Guillermo gently guided him into the pool and immersed him in the water. Neely emerged exultant.
“I did it! I did it!”
If any of the church members thought Neely’s conversion was going to change his life-long use of common profanities, they were in for a disappointment. At the luncheon served afterwards, Neely spouted “damn this” and “damn that” a few times before Guillermo interrupted.
“Hal, we’re going to have to baptize your dictionary.”15
Neely had some regrets in his life, church minister Vic McCormick said he told him, but they were mostly in his private life. His first marriage ended in divorce, and there was a lot of bad feeling in his separation from his second wife. But he expressed no regrets in his business life.16
“Money was not my priority,” he told Guillermo. “You can’t change a thing. Now I have a new life.” He also told them he had warned James Brown not to go back to his same old crowd which had gotten him into trouble in the first place.
Brooksville accepted Neely as one of their own, albeit a man with a mysterious and exciting past. “To see him (Neely) you wouldn’t have known he had been big in the music business,” Guillermo said.
Another thing Neely told him was that he had his music catalogue in a warehouse. Originally he was going to leave it to University of South Florida, but he decided to give it to the Bible teacher instead. And he had royalties being held by a Memphis music company. Those would go to the church. His lawyer was a member of the Brooksville Church of Christ also. After Neely passed on, they were to contact the lawyer.17
***
James Brown died Dec. 25, 2006 of congestive heart failure and pneumonia at the age of 73. In his final years Brown was still performing and still the Hardest Working Man in Show Business. He scheduled eighty-one shows for 2006–including stops in Europe, Morocco, Tokyo, Estonia, Turkey and the United States.
He had also become a fixture in the charitable community of Augusta, Georgia. At Thanksgiving he gave away turkeys to poor families. On Dec. 20 he participated in a toy giveaway. He went to a dental appointment immediately after the toy distribution event, but when the dentist saw his physical condition he ordered Brown admitted to Emory Crawford Young Hospital where he died on Christmas Day.
Brown had three funeral services, one of which was at the Apollo Theater in Harlem where he had produced his live album with the help of Hal Neely.18
***
Guillermo said the London Times called Neely after Brown’s death and asked him how he was doing.
“Oh,” Neely replied, “I’ve found Jesus.”19
***
James Brown was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 as was Syd Nathan in 1997, but the old King Records building in Cincinnati fell into disrepair and eventually into oblivion.
“In Cincinnati,” Larry Nager of the Cincinnati Enquirer said, “it’s as if King and Mr. Nathan never existed. There’s no museum and even a proposed historical marker remains controversial. Many say it’s because Mr. Nathan’s crudely direct style and the rawness of King’s music don’t fit Cincinnati’s refined, blue-chip self-image.”
“I’ll be surprised if the city recognizes the building,” Howard Kessel, an original King partner, said, “They never wanted anything to do with us. To them, we were just making records for hillbillies and black people.”20
***
Neely’s health continued to worsen, and Hanneman visited with him every day and ensuring he made all his doctor’s appointments. Sometimes Neely resisted going to see a new doctor.
Hanneman would walk in and say, “Come on, we’re late to your doctor’s appointment. You know the one. You’ve had it for months.”
He also showed up for meals just to make sure Neely made it to the dining room. Hanneman’s devotion to Neely stirred some suspicion among the personnel at Tangerine Cove. A staff member confronted him one day.
“Why are you being so nice to him?” she demanded. “You know he doesn’t have any money.”
“Of course, I do,” Hanneman replied, taken aback.
“So why are you doing this? People aren’t nice just to be nice.”
“He’s my friend.”
And he was. Hanneman bought Neely a laptop computer and encouraged him to write his memoirs. He listened patiently to all the stories, over and over again. There was a consistent theme. James Brown owed his success to Hal Neely, but never wanted to admit it. Brown was guilty of a “convenient memory.”21 Eventually, Neely wrote about 80 pages of memoirs.
The last interview Neely granted was in February of 2008 to a biweekly newspaper in Brooksville. The headline was “When Vinyl Was King.” He told the newspaper he first heard Frank Sinatra sing when the entertainer was 16 years old at a high school dance. “I asked him what he was going to be, and he said he was going to be a star. I told Harry James to sign him.”
He related how a man from Seattle had introduced Patsy Cline to him, and he signed her to a contract and produced many of her hit recordings. He said James Brown chose to forget him and his associations with him and repeated his story that he sued Brown in federal court in 2005. The article ended with Neely saying, “The human brain remembers the good things…the good times…it rationalizes the rest.”22
He developed stomach problems arising from the medications he was taking. As he slept Neely rolled over and fell out of bed catching his head between the nightstand and bedrail. He was taken to the hospital, and Hanneman was at his side as death drew near. Their eyes connected.
“I want my memoir completed,” Neely whispered to Hanneman. “People have to know that James Brown had a convenient memory. He didn’t want to admit that I had been the driving force in his early career. But I forced him to admit he knew me. It was in open court, and Brown had to face the facts.”23
When Neely died, many record industry officials came to the funeral service at the Brooksville Church of Christ on March 4, 2009.24 Neely’s cremated remains were left with the church, Hanneman said. Neely’s friend Art Williams did not attend; he was hospitalized in Phoenix, Arizona, for heart problems at the time. Williams said he felt hurt that Neely did not call him much in the last months of his life and he felt sad about the way he died. “Hal was genuinely interested in other people, optimistic and generous to a fault,” Williams said. “The pot of gold always eluded him.”25
Neely’s estranged wife Victoria Wise did not attend the funeral either. When she tried to file for benefits from his life insurance policy she ran across a clerical roadblock. When Neely’s death certificate was filled out, someone stated on it that he was divorced, even though they were only separated. Wise delayed filing the divorce papers. Neely’s friends had urged him to sue her for divorce in order to receive a monetary settlement from Wise, but the divorce never actually occurred. The insurance company chose to accept the death certificate as proof they had divorced.
“How do you prove a negative?” Wise said. “Hal always wanted to be appreciated and felt cheated he wasn’t recognized for what he did,” she said. When asked about the lawsuit against James Brown, she shook her head and replied, “There was no lawsuit.”26
After the funeral Hanneman went to Neely’s warehouse unit and discovered mementos of his career, which attorney Bruce Snow of Brooksville said were of no value.27 There was no record catalogue to be bequeathed to Abe Guillermo, which Guillermo said did not bother him at all. He just was pleased to have met such an interesting man from the record industry in the final years of his life, sharing their love of big band music.28 The Brooksville Church of Christ took possession of Neely’s ashes, Hanneman said. Snow also doubted there were any disputed royalties with a company in Memphis, as Neely had told his church friends.
“Hal’s recollection of events was colored by age,” Snow said. “His current and future plans were as mingled in thought as his history. Hal was not out to create grandeur that was not there. He had his grandeur, but it was a blend of reality and memory.”29
Snow’s hypothesis on the lawsuit was confirmed by William Lawless who represented Neely during the years he lived in Florida.
“The situation with James Brown happened a long time ago,” Lawless said, “In the early days of Hal’s career he represented James Brown as an agent. Brown shifted agents, and I think Hal sued on breach of contract. I do not know the results of that litigation.
“The lawsuit I handled was about compensation he earned while in the employ of a company (United Buyers of America). That lawsuit occurred more than thirteen years ago. My memory is poor on that subject. By the way, the arrangement with Hal regarding the lawsuit judgment collection was that Hal had so many friends in the business that he was going to locate the main assets and I was to seek a Writ of Execution to attach the assets.” He never found any assets.
“The last time I saw Hal, he was in western Florida in a place he was renting. There was a man with him who was cleaning and transferring music from albums to tape. This music is the music which Hal claimed he owned. One time I asked for documentation to see his ownership interest. He said he did not have any. Some of this was Frank Sinatra and other named singers.”30
An article in the Nov. 15, 1993 edition of the Orlando Sentinel reported that Neely, at that time 72 years old, filed a breach of contract suit in state Circuit Court in Orlando for $200,905 for pay from Jan. 1, 1989 to March 5, 1991 from United Shoppers of America Inc., a video duplication company.
Neely told the newspaper he did not press for his salary payment while working for the company because it was having financial problems. He was the corporation secretary, treasurer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. He said he quit in March, 1991, because of not being paid and differences with management. After leaving United Shoppers of America Neely said he had worked part-time as a television writer and producer.
Roland Hanneman, when told that the lawyer involved with Neely during the time of the alleged James Brown lawsuit said the courts never had such a case before it, paused a moment and ran his fingers through his hair. The lawsuit was not important, he decided. The memoirs of Hal Neely’s long career in the music industry were more than one lawsuit against a singer.
Neeley’s memoirs were the cultural history of the United States in the last half of the 20th century. They represented in one man what life was for everyone: each person did his best according to the talents given to him and along the way he earned a few friends and made a few enemies.
In the end of his life Hal Neely was surrounded by friends, which was all that truly mattered.
1 Hanneman Interview.
2 www.fivay.org/hernando1.html.
3 www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2007-10-10/html/CREC-2007-10-10-PgE2115-3.html.
4 King of the Queen City, 93.
5 www.discogs.com/artist/308467-henry.glover.
6 John Rumble Interview 6/26/13.
7 www.legacy.com/NYTimes/obituary.aspx?n=freddy.bienstock. www.allmusic.com/artist/johnny.bienstock-mn0001010454/biography.
8 www.lieberstoller.com/abouthml.
9 The Starday Story, 166.
10 Ibid., 168-169.
11 Nathan Gibson Interview December 2010.
12 Randy McNutt Interview March 2011.
13 Hanneman Interview.
14 Al Nicholson Interview, June 2011.
15 Abe Guillermo Interview, March 2011.
16 Vic McCormick Interview, March 2011.
17 Guillermo Interview.
18 Life of James Brown, 197-198.
19 Guillermo Interview.
20 King of the Queen City, 191-192.
21 Hanneman Interview.
22 Cowling, Jerry, When Vinyl Was King, Brooksville Belle, Brooksville, FL, Feb. 21-March5, 2008 edition.
23 Hanneman Interview.
24 Neill, Logan, Grammy Award Winning Producer Dies, St. Petersburg Times, www.tampabay.com/news/article983842.ece.
25 Williams Interview.
26 Wise Interview.
27 Bruce Snow Interview.
28 Guillermo Interview.
29 Snow Interview.
30William Lawless Interview.

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.