Andrew Loog Oldham | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 29 January 1944 |
| Origin | London, England, UK |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, manager, impresario, author |
Andrew Loog Oldham Note 1 (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style. [1]
Oldham's father, Andrew Loog, was a United States Army Air Force lieutenant, a New Orleanian of German descent, [2] who served with the Eighth Air Force. Loog was killed in June 1943 when his B-17 bomber was shot down over the English Channel, and he was buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium. Oldham's Australian-born mother, Celia Oldham, [3] was a nurse and comptometer operator. Oldham attended the Aylesbury School for Boys, Cokethorpe School in Oxfordshire, St Marylebone Grammar School and Wellingborough School in Northamptonshire. [4]
A self-proclaimed hustler, Oldham spent teenage summers swindling tourists in French towns. [5] His interest in the pop culture of the 1960s and the Soho coffeehouse scene led to working for Carnaby Street mod designer John Stephen and later as an assistant to then-emerging fashion designer Mary Quant. [6] Oldham became a publicist for British and American musicians and for producer Joe Meek. [1] Among his projects were stints publicizing both Bob Dylan (on his first UK visit) and the Beatles (for Brian Epstein) in early 1963. [7]
In April 1963, a journalist friend recommended that Oldham see a young R&B band called the Rolling Stones. Oldham saw potential in the group being positioned as an "anti-Beatles"—a rougher group compared to the "cuddly moptop" image of the Beatles at that time. [8] Oldham, still a teenager, rapidly acquired a seasoned business partner (Eric Easton) and took over management of the Stones who had been informally represented by Giorgio Gomelsky. [1] [9] Oldham had previously been business partners with Peter Meaden, first manager of the Who, but they had fallen out after getting into several fights.[ citation needed ] Oldham signed recording rights to the Stones to Decca, targeting A&R head Dick Rowe, who had earlier declined to sign the Beatles. [10]
Among strategies devised and executed by Oldham to propel the group to success:
Oldham and Eric Easton negotiated a recording contract which was very favourable to themselves. Instead of having the Stones sign directly with Decca they set up a company, Impact Sound, which retained ownership of the group's master tapes, which were then leased to Decca — an idea learned from Phil Spector. Impact Sound received a 14% royalty from Decca but paid only 6% to the Stones, out of which Oldham and Eric Easton received a 25% management fee. [16] [17]
Oldham produced all Rolling Stones recordings from 1963 until late 1967 despite having no previous experience as a producer. According to the Rolling Stones' website, accounts regarding the value of his musical input to the Stones recordings vary "from negligible to absolute zero". Though lacking technical expertise in the studio, it is thought that Oldham was good at seeing the "big picture" of the Rolling Stones' image and sound. He discovered Marianne Faithfull at a party, giving her Jagger and Richards' "As Tears Go By" to record. He also developed other studio talent with his Andrew Oldham Orchestra, [1] in which Rolling Stones as well as London session players (including Steve Marriott on harmonica) recorded pop covers and instrumentals. As his success increased, Oldham thrived on a reputation as a garrulous, androgynous gangster who wore makeup and sunglasses and relied on his bodyguard Reg 'The Butcher' King to threaten rivals. [4]
Oldham put an advert in Melody Maker that praised The Righteous Brothers' version of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" in an effort to detract attention and sales from Cilla Black's competing version.
In 1965, Oldham hired Allen Klein as his business manager. On Oldham's behalf Klein renegotiated the Rolling Stones' contract with Decca, excluding Oldham's partner, Eric Easton. [18] But over the next two years Oldham's relations with the Stones were strained by his drug use and inattention to the group's needs. When Jagger and Richards were arrested for drug possession in 1967, instead of devising a strategy for their legal defence and public relations, Oldham fled to the United States, leaving Klein to deal with the problem. [19] Oldham was forced to resign as manager of the Rolling Stones in late 1967 and sold his rights to the group's music to Allen Klein the following year. [20]
In 1965, Oldham set up Immediate Records, among the first independent labels in the UK. [1] Among the artists that he signed and/or produced or guided were PP Arnold, Chris Farlowe, the Small Faces, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Rod Stewart, the Nice, Jimmy Page, Nico, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Amen Corner, the McCoys, the Strangeloves, Humble Pie and Duncan Browne. [21]
With Arthur Greenslade he was credited as the co-writer of "Headlines", the B-side of "Ride on Baby" (IM 038), by Chris Farlowe, which was released in October 1966. [22]
After the Small Faces disbanded in 1969, he put together Humble Pie, featuring Steve Marriott (formerly of the Small Faces) and Peter Frampton (formerly of the Herd).[ citation needed ]
In the 1970s and 1980s, Oldham worked primarily in the United States. He produced Donovan, Gene Pitney and other artists. [1] In the mid-1980s, he made Colombia his home after marrying Esther Farfan, a Colombian model. There he briefly worked with some Colombian bands. [5]
A recording by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra was rediscovered in the 1990s when the Verve used a string loop based on the orchestral arrangement of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time" in their song "Bitter Sweet Symphony"; in the ensuing court battle, songwriting royalties for the Verve track were awarded to Allen Klein's ABKCO Records, the owner of the copyright for "The Last Time". [23]
Oldham co-wrote a biography of ABBA in the 1990s [24] and three autobiographies: Stoned (1998), 2Stoned (2001), and Rolling Stoned (2011) in which he and other music figures recount his days as a manager, producer and impresario. [25] He was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. [26]
In 2005, Oldham thanked the Scientology-linked drug rehab organisation Narconon for saving his life from his cocaine addiction. [27] That same year, he was recruited by Steven Van Zandt to host a radio show on Van Zandt's Underground Garage radio channel heard in North America on Sirius Satellite Radio. Oldham had a three-hour show on weekdays and a four-hour weekend show. In 2006 he collaborated with renowned Argentine musician Charly García for his album Kill Gil, which was eventually released in a slightly reworked form in 2010. In 2008, he worked on the production of a new album by Argentine rock band Los Ratones Paranoicos. [28]
In 2014, Oldham overheard Canadian artist Ché Aimee Dorval singing backup on a friend's track he was helping to produce, and he subsequently signed her to his label. [29] In September 2014, Oldham's label released Dorval's second studio EP, Volume One. She was also given two covers to sing on his 2013 album of Rolling Stones' songs entitled Andrew Oldham Orchestra and Friends play the Rolling Stones Songbook Vol. 2. Dorval sang "As Tears Go By" and "Under My Thumb".
In 2020, he began his first lectures as a visiting Scholar at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada. [30]
The song "Andrew's Blues", sung by the Rolling Stones and appearing on the bootleg Black Box collection CD1, [31] [32] is a humorous if scathing evocation of Oldham. [33]
Oldham has two sons, [34] the elder, Sean, from his marriage to Sheila Klein, [35] and the younger, Maximilian, from his marriage to Esther Farfan. [36]
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active across seven decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader of the band. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership became the band's primary songwriting and creative force; this alienated Jones, who developed a drug addiction that by 1968 interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish-born English keyboardist and co-founder of the Rolling Stones. He was removed from the lineup in May 1963 at the request of manager Andrew Loog Oldham who felt he did not fit the band's image. He remained as road manager and pianist for over two decades until his death, and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of the band in 1989.
Nanker/Phelge was a collective pseudonym used between 1963 and 1965 for several Rolling Stones group compositions. According to manager Andrew Loog Oldham the 'Nanker/Phelge' credit was mostly used for tracks where the origin lay in blues standards from the 1950's they heard when visiting the Chess studios in Chicago. It also enabled Oldham to benefit from writing credits.
Between the Buttons is the fifth British and seventh American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 20 January 1967 in the UK and on 10 February in the US. Reflecting the band's brief foray into psychedelia and baroque pop balladry during the era, the album is among their most eclectic works; multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones frequently abandoned his guitar during the sessions in favor of instruments such as organ, marimba, dulcimer, vibraphone and kazoo. Keyboard contributions came from two session players: former Rolling Stones member Ian Stewart and frequent contributor Jack Nitzsche. Between the Buttons would be the last album produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, who had to this point acted as the band's manager and produced all of their albums.
Tonite Lets All Make Love in London is a soundtrack album released on LP in 1968, for the 1967 documentary film of the same name, made by Peter Whitehead about the "swinging London" scene of the sixties. The film consists of a series of psychedelic performances and interviews and features live performance by Pink Floyd, together with footage of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Vanessa Redgrave, Lee Marvin, Julie Christie, Allen Ginsberg, Eric Burdon, Michael Caine and many others attending one of the band's concerts.
Allen Klein was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits for his musician clients by negotiating new record company contracts. He first scored monetary and contractual gains for Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen, one-hit rockabillies of the late 1950s, then parlayed his early successes into a position managing Sam Cooke, and eventually managed the Beatles and the Rolling Stones simultaneously, along with many other artists, becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the music industry during his era.
December's Children (And Everybody's) is the fifth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1965. It is primarily compiled from different released tracks from across the band's recording career up to that point, including the UK version of Out of Our Heads. Bassist Bill Wyman quotes Jagger in 1968 calling the record "[not] an album, it's just a collection of songs." Accordingly, it is only briefly detailed in Wyman's otherwise exhaustive book Rolling with the Stones. It features their then-recent transatlantic hit single "Get Off of My Cloud", as well as their own remake of Marianne Faithfull's Jagger/Richards-penned hit "As Tears Go By", which was released as the album's second single in the US.
Aftermath is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by Decca Records and in the United States in late June or early July 1966 by London Records. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and closely follows a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and fame rivalling that of their contemporaries the Beatles.
The Rolling Stones is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released by Decca Records in the UK on 17 April 1964. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 29 May 1964, subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers, which later became its official title.
"I Wanna Be Your Man" is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song first recorded and released as a single by the Rolling Stones, and then recorded by the Beatles for their second studio album With the Beatles. The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, and finished by Lennon and McCartney in the corner of a Richmond, London club while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were talking.
More Hot Rocks is a compilation album by the Rolling Stones released in December 1972 on London Records. The album was a follow-up to the successful Hot Rocks 1964–1971.
Metamorphosis is the third compilation album of the Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein. Released in 1975, Metamorphosis centres on outtakes and alternate versions of well-known songs recorded from 1964 to 1970.
Singles Collection: The London Years is a compilation album by the Rolling Stones, released in 1989. It was released as a 3-CD and a 4-LP set.
"As Tears Go By" is a song written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Marianne Faithfull recorded and released it as a single in the United Kingdom in 1964. Her song peaked at number nine on both the UK and Irish singles charts. Later, the Rolling Stones recorded their own version, which was included on the American album December's Children . London Records released it as a single, which reached number six in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
The Andrew Oldham Orchestra was a musical side project in the mid-1960s created by Andrew Loog Oldham, the original manager and record producer of the Rolling Stones. There was no actual orchestra per se. The name was applied to recordings made by Loog Oldham using a multitude of session musicians, including members of the Rolling Stones.
"Out of Time" is a song by the Rolling Stones, first released on their 1966 album Aftermath. The most commercially successful version of the song was by Chris Farlowe, an English solo artist. Farlowe's single, produced by Mick Jagger, peaked at number one in the UK Singles Chart on 28 July 1966 and stayed at the top for one week. A shorter alternative mix of the Rolling Stones' recording was released in the US in 1967 on the album Flowers. A third version featuring Jagger's lead vocal and the orchestration and backing vocals from Farlowe's cover version was released on the 1975 rarities album Metamorphosis and as a single.
The Art of Chris Farlowe is the third 1966 album by British singer Chris Farlowe, featuring his band the Thunderbirds, but only credited to him.
Tony Calder was an English record manager, impresario, talent-spotter, promoter and public relations agent. He was Andrew Loog Oldham's business partner from 1963 to December 1969.
Eric Easton (1927–1995) was an English record producer and the first manager of British rock group the Rolling Stones. Originally from Lancashire, he joined the music industry playing the organ in music halls and cinemas. By the 1960s he had moved into management and talent spotting, operating from an office suite in London's Regent Street. Easton met Andrew Loog Oldham in 1963; Oldham wanted to sign an unknown band, called the Rolling Stones, about whom he was enthusiastic. At the time, the band were still playing small clubs and blues bars. Easton saw them once—at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond—and agreed with Oldham. Their partnership was one of contrasts: Oldham has been described as bringing youth and energy, while Easton brought industry experience, contacts and financing. Together, they signed the group to both a management and publishing deal, which, while giving better terms for the group than the Beatles received, was to the advantage of Easton and Oldham who received a larger cut. Easton was primarily responsible for booking gigs—he was keen for the group to get out of London and play nationally—but also acted as record producer on a number of occasions, including on their first single, a cover version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" in June 1963. Easton was responsible for many aspects of the band's development, ranging from managing their fan club to organising their tour of America in 1964.
"My Way of Giving" is a song written by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane. Initially demoed by their band Small Faces in 1966, it was given to British singer Chris Farlowe, who released his version as a single in early 1967. It was Farlowe's first single not written by Jagger–Richards since 1965's "The Fool". The Small Faces themselves decided to go on and record a version which was released on two different albums on two different record labels.
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