1628
BILL HALEY & HIS COMETS SIGNED DECCA RECORDS RECORDING CONTRACT, 1954
Currency:USD
Category:Memorabilia
Start Price:2,000.00 USD
Estimated At:4,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2012 Sep 28 @ 11:00UTC-04:00 : AST/EDT
Decca signs Bill Haley and The Comets…two weeks before they record "Rock Around the Clock"!
A document of historical importance in the annals of rock & roll is this contract between Bill Haley and Decca Records, dated March 29, 1954, signed by Haley and legendary producer, Milt Gabler, just two weeks before Bill Haley & The Comets recorded the epochal "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock." Though Haley's music career began in 1943, his first recordings in the late 1940's were oriented towards country & western and western swing. Two years after forming the Saddlemen in 1949, Haley's style began to chance. In 1951, the Saddlemen recorded Jackie Brenston's "Rocket '88" (considered by many to be the first true "rock & roll' record), three years before the term came to describe the new genre. In 1952, Haley changed the group's name to Bill Haley with The Comets, and recorded "Rock The Joint." The melding of his style of country with rhythm & blues laid the framework for what was to come in 1954. Though "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock," from that very first Decca Recording session in April 1954, only spent one week on the U.S. singles chart at #23, the second Decca single, a cover of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle & Roll," hit #7. After "(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" was used as the theme song in the 1955 feature film, "The Blackboard Jungle", Bill Haley & The Comets became household names as the single was re-released, spending eight weeks at #1, and eventually becoming one of the biggest-selling singles of all-time. Although it was not the first rock & roll record, it was most certainly the most successful in the new genre, and is long regarded as a landmark recording in rock history. The four-page contract stipulates in part "...William J. Haley for himself and an organization known as Bill Haley and his Comets...Dear Mr. Haley: This contract for your personal services and the services of musicians is made between Decca Records, Inc. as the employer and you and the musicians who make up the orchestra represented by you as leader...will perform together for us under your leadership for the purpose of making phonograph records. Recordings will be made at recording sessions in our studios...A minimum of twelve record sides shall be recorded during the period of this contract, and additional recordings shall be made at our election. The musical compositions shall be mutually agreed upon between you and us, and each recording shall be subject to our approval as satisfactory, for manufacture and sale...We will pay you in respect of recordings made hereunder, a royalty of 5% of the retail list price in the country of manufacture...on 90% of all records sold...The period of this contract shall be one year commencing with the date hereof...you grant us the option to renew this contract for a period of one year...We agree that we will distribute for exploitation purposes at least 1,000 promotion records of each of the first three records released for sale hereunder". The contract continues to outline typical contractual obligations related to other issues, including union scale payments to participating musicians, royalty rates for recording with other artists, Decca's right to assign the contract to any of their subsidiary affiliates, respect for A F of M (American Federation of Musicians) rules, use of name and likeness for advertising and promotional purposes, and royalty rate stipulations for foreign sales. The contract is signed in blue ballpoint pen by Haley as "William J. Haley" and black fountain pen by Milt Gabler on behalf of Decca Records. Milt Gabler's signature on this contract further attests to his place in rock & roll history. Though he was more well-known in the jazz field as a producer for Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Peggy Lee, among others, he also produced jump blues king Louis Jordan! Also included in this historic assemblage: 1) typed cover letter to Bill Haley related to the one-year extension of the contract from Decca Records to Bill Haley, dated December 3, 1954, 2) typed letter from Decca to Haley's attorneys advising them of contract extension, dated November 12, 1958, 3) three-page vintage photo copy of three-year contract renewal to commence on January 5, 1955, 4) vintage photocopy of royalty accounting figures between 1954 and 1958. The 11" x 14" contract and attachments are twice stapled. The pages exhibit mailing folds and a few scattered wrinkles and stains.
Estimate: $4,000 - 5,000.
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Part I: Lots 1-979 - September 27th, 2012
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