MAKE the best possible water-tight financial agreements with your manager right from the start.

The amount of your manager’s percentage depends on what he is going to do for you. Some of the best managers take up to 40 per cent.

For 40 per cent a manager should take care of publicity, photographs, the fan club expenses — plugging your record, and the agency side of it as well, the side that gets you the work.

If your manager takes 15 per cent you’ll still have to pay 10 more for publicity and 10 for the booking agency. It’s often better to have it all under the same roof.

As a general rule I’d say a large slice of your income should be invested, but you must have enough money to enjoy life and to be fairly generous among friends.

I’m not suggesting you have to “buy” friendship, but if you are mean and never seen around at the right parties enjoying yourself, then often you’re not liked. You lose friends and get a reputation for being a bit of a tight wad.

So, in other words, as in so many of these general rules I’m laying down, you must try to tread the rather difficult middle path.

If you are fortunate enough to be highly intelligent you can make up a lot of leeway on your lack of experience or lack of knowledge of the business.

Of course, again, there are exceptions. You can be dumb and still be a star, but the chances are, not for long.

Any girl who wants to become a pop singer would do well to have Susan Maughan’s intelligence. It is, apart from her natural talent and her looks, her greatest attribute. She is a manager’s and publicity man’s dream.

John Lennon. for instance, is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met in the Pop world. And George Harrison surprised me once. We were going to a Press conference and I said: “Don’t you think you’d be better off wearing a shirt and tie rather than that sweater?”

He said: “Do you want me to wear a shirt and tie?” I said: “Yes.”

He said: “Why don’t you say, ‘I want you to wear a shirt and tie,’ instead of asking ME if I think it’s best?”

He was quite right. He wanted me to say exactly what I meant and it was “soft” (i.e., Liverpudlian for unintelligent!) of me to say it in a way I didn’t really mean.

I was, of course, coming from a different generation, merely trying to be diplomatic. But George, although he would never want to hurt anyone, says exactly what he thinks.

And this, in the Beatles’ environment, is intelligent. I can assure you.

There is a great deal to learn when you are an embryo star in the pop world, there are many emotional and material adjustments to be made and if you don’t happen to be highly intelligent by nature, then TRY to be.

Now, I’ve laid down all these rules, but I must emphasise there are exceptions to every one.

And no matter if you followed them all implicitly, no matter how talented you are, how brilliantly you are managed. how cleverly you are publicised, there are still outside influences over which you have no control.

So LUCK plays a big part in a would-be pop star’s success. If you don’t have any luck at all, you could well be in trouble.

But if you follow all these rules and work hard and really try to do what you feel to be true and right for you, then you have opened all the doors you can.

And sooner or later luck should come in through them.

Good luck!

The post How to become a pop star: a lot depends on your luck appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

THERE is no doubt that if you make the grade as a pop star, your private life is going to take a back seat.

You’ve got to be prepared for the fact that most of your life will be spent working or travelling to your work.

So when you do get home it is important that you should be able to enjoy your leisure in peace.

At the same time you have to remember that if you haven’t got fans trying to find out where you live and trying to get in to see you, there’s something wrong.

So you have a problem. Just as industry is realising that leisure at regular intervals is very important to anyone doing a job, the same applies in show business.

I think a star should live somewhere as inaccessible as possible which means the country or, if you must live in town, in a fairly remote part of it or in a secure hotel.

Fans? I do think the time has come for every up and coming pop singer to consider seriously that perhaps they should NOT start a fan club.

The Beatles found it quite a problem once they had become big stars. On George Harrison’s birthday great G.P.O. sacks full of mail were arriving at the rate of 24 a day. He had no hope of reading them. His fan club girls had to get half a dozen extra staff and still they couldn’t cope.

And one has to organise fan conventions. The Beatles had a northern and southern fan convention last year and at each there were 3,000 or 4,000 girls milling around. I don’t think the Beatles suffered any harm, but someone alone and smaller might have.

This sort of thing can hurt two ways. First, there is the physical assault which is very uncomfortable when you’re being pushed and mauled about. Second, is the fact that most girls are in the fan business for kicks for themselves.

They are in it to do themselves a favour, not the artist; in it for their own enjoyment and once they have actually got to an artist they’ve had their kick. From that point on you tend to lose fans as they’ve met you, touched you and who’s next?

So there IS an argument in this day and age for having the courage NOT to start a fan club.

Money is very important but it should never be your god. What is important is that you should never depart, at least not very far and not very often, from your real desire to sing or play what you feel you really want to.

It was only when the Kinks made the record they really wanted to make, “You Really Got Me”, that they hit the No. 1 spot. And this is by no means exceptional.

NEXT WEEK: How to make a deal with your manager

The post How to become a pop star: when the fans cool off… appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

ONE of the biggest pitfalls of budding newcomers to the pop scene is that they are sometimes too full of themselves and too full of big ideas.

Never think because you “went down big” at the local dance hall at Chipping Sodbury that you’re going to conquer the West End and the disc biz overnight. A touch of humility is not only important, it’s VITAL.

If you have a basic talent, just keep plugging away be cause sooner or later a good manager, agent or recording executive will spot it. But to have too big an idea of yourself and to go bustling and blathering around can often lead to obscuring your real talent.

I know an up and coming artist like this right now who. through his push and blather is in danger of making a fool of himself. And he doesn’t have to do this because he does have real talent.

The trouble is he’s been so used to having to force himself upon people who couldn’t see his talent, he’s gone too far the other way.

Of course, you must project yourself when you audition. Don’t become too much of a yes-man or become too obsequious. that, too, is suspect and rather nauseating.

So many kids today think it’s a sign of weakness to show gratitude or even be polite, to say “please” and “thank you.” The finest artist in a show is often the one who goes to the compere when he’s sitting in his dressing-room waiting for his taxi home, and says: “I want to thank you very much for giving me such a wonderful introduction.”

Recently Godfrey Winn had Cliff Richard in a radio programme. Godfrey is under no illusion that by having Cliff in his programme he put up the listening figures fantastically and therefore could well be grateful to Cliff.

But what happened was that Cliff wrote a personal letter to Godfrey thanking HIM for having him on the programme. As Godfrey wrote to me: “That’s a sign of a great artist.”

Honest humility is very important. I remember when the Beatles were doing a show at the Finsbury Park Empire the Christmas before last, there was an electrical fault and the mikes and amplifiers went dead.

They were the greatest act in show business, yet they blushed and, in turn, each apologised to the audience.

I have known other artists in similar circumstances just walk to the back of the stage in a huff, get irritated with the technicians or just walk off the stage without a word

Recently I saw Susan Maughan get heckled by a drunk during a live show. She sang the song “A Man Called Bill” and this drunk in the audience happened to be called Bill and he became a nuisance

He started shouting and caused chaos in the audience but Susan stopped, laughed with them, joined in with the general merriment, then had another go. No prima donna tactics with Susan.

NEXT WEEK: I’ll tell you about fan clubs and why I think that up and coming stars should start a fan club

The post How to become a pop star: you must have humility appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

EVERY artist needs publicity in the pop business. It may be hard to believe but even the Beatles needed it once! It’s true!

When I went to Paris with them last year, they were the biggest stars in this country and were rapidly climbing the American charts, but in Paris they were really not well known.

Backstage on their first-night appearance at the Paris Olympia theatre, there were no big guns from the Press but there were dozens of “freelance” photographers.

Our dressing-room was about the size of two telephone boxes put together.

Into it were squeezed four Beatles, two road managers, endless guitars, myself and two British journalists. What a crush!

Three or four of the photographers also pushed their way in. About 20 outside were also trying to get in.

I suddenly saw a chance to create a “story” for the papers. As it was, the first night could have passed off very noisily, very excitingly, but not a word would get printed. I told the road managers of my idea, then told the photographers to get out — in French, English, Arabic and Russian!

But they refused, so at a given signal, we threw them out. This caused a great melee outside.

This, of course, made the story and my calculated gamble came off. It made every paper next day in Britain and France and caused quite a storm. Next day I held a “peace” conference at our hotel, apologised handsomely all round, drinks were exchanged, injuries were compared and that made a second “story.” From then on we were away.

This was, of course, merely complementary to the Beatles’ marvellous performance. They entertained their audiences very well but the publicity and pictures of the melee helped arouse a tremendous interest throughout Paris which otherwise might not have happened.

Many people tend to decry gimmicks but I am sure in the pop world today they are, if cleverly thought out, essential.

The Beatles’ name was originally picked as a gimmick. But today you’d never imagine them called anything else. The Kinks is a gimmick name, thought up to attract attention, but now it is endemic to them.

The question of your gimmick must be thought over very carefully. It must fit your present and, if you’re successful, what you believe will be your future “image.”

But always remember, although a trademark may help sell the product, the product itself must be good. There is no doubt that the right song can turn a pop singer into a name overnight — or raise a fading career from the doldrums.

One of Brian Epstein’s greatest contributions to his artists’ future is his instinctive and uncanny ability to pick a good song for them.

This, of course, he doesn’t have to do for the Beatles. Most of their singles are their own compositions, and they choose much of their LP material.

But Cilla Black with “Anyone Who Had A Heart” and Billy J. Kramer with “Little Children” are perfect examples.

Peter and Gordon undoubtedly got off with the right song, “World Without Love.” How did they get it? Peter is the brother of Jane Asher, who is Beatle Paul’s girl friend. Paul and John Lennon had written the song, part of it with Peter and Gordon at the Asher home.

Their next song, “Nobody I Know,” was a Lennon and McCartney number and “I Don’t Want To See You Again” is, too.

Peter and Gordon may go along to a record company and put five numbers on tape, two or three of which may be theirs and two by Lennon and McCartney.

The recording manager picks what he feels to be the best of the lot. So far it’s always turned out to be Lennon and McCartney.

But there is a danger here — and Peter and Gordon are aware of it — that they might get stuck with a Lennon and McCartney type of song every time. So now they have recorded a Del Shannon number.

The real answer, of course, is to do a Frank Sinatra and start your own record company!

NEXT WEEK: Brian Sommerville discusses: looks, talent, and grooming that make a pop star. And tells you the secret of success behind the great artists in the pop scene.

The post How to become a pop star: how to choose the right song appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

WHENEVER anyone asks me, and it’s amazing how many do, if there is one quality a budding pop star needs most of all, I always give the same one-word answer—talent.

If you don’t have talent you might as well go back to the farm, or the bank counter, or wherever it is you work.

Mind you, that talent may not be obvious. It often takes a clever manager to spot it because the person might be shy or trying to start off with the wrong style.

The Beatles illustrate the point. Brian Epstein, their manager, agrees with me that he was extremely lucky in finding four boys who had an incredible amount of talent between them. Some of that talent was obvious but some was not.

John Lennon’s was clear from the start and so was Paul McCartney’s to a slightly lesser extent in that they were both good at composing. But the latent talent in George Harrison and Ringo Starr emerged much later.

Today George is coming out with some really tricky guitar playing. He has proved himself an expert guitarist.

And Ringo has revealed a latent talent in his humour, his new comic image. This talent has been brought out by a process of evolution, actual experience, confidence from success and by being put on the right lines by Brian Epstein.

Another case of really obvious talent is Tommy Steele. He has now graduated from being only a pop singer to becoming a fine all-round entertainer. He always had this natural talent, coupled with a flair for putting it over.

This flair, too, is most important. You need personality to put your talent over.

If you don’t have the personality to put your talent over, you may just as well not have the talent.

Anthony Newley is another example of a man so talented that he emerged as a pop singer as an off-shoot from his main job of acting. He also helps write his own songs and stage shows.

How do you know if you’ve got talent? Most of the time if you are really talented, you won’t know. In fact, if you do think you’re the great undiscovered genius it might be as well to think again. For most talented people I’ve known did NOT know they were talented.

Often the real true artist is the last person to know just how talented he is.

That doesn’t mean they didn’t have the confidence to persevere. You MUST have that.

I remember when I was working in an assistant capacity as publicity man to Peter Sellers. We were watching a scene in a film he’d just made and he didn’t think it was very funny, although to everyone else it was. In fact, it was the funniest scene in the film, yet Peter wanted to do it again.

Just as the law courts will occasionally jail an innocent man or free a guilty man, most people know that justice is almost invariably done. It’s the same with talent in show business. If you’ve got it, you should win through.

There are the freaks — talents who just don’t get noticed and people who get a stardom they don’t deserve. But, generally speaking, talent will be recognised sooner or later and receive its just reward.

Above all, don’t be put off too easily. There may be a number of reasons why you might be told quite consistently by agents and managers that you are not what they want.

Maybe you have some rough edges and they can’t be bothered to smooth them out. Maybe you clash with someone else already on their books. Maybe there is something about you they don’t like, quite apart from your ability.

Never be misled by this. You must still press on. Be as honest as you can with yourself and if you really think you’ve got something, be confident in your own ability. But don’t be too clever or cocky about it.

I’ve just taken on a man called Deke Arion. I’m convinced, as are many who’ve seen him, that he’s very talented. He sings, does impersonations that are cleverly satirical. He compares favourably in the early stages with Tommy Steele or even with Danny Kaye. For all manner of reasons, he never signed with anyone, but now I’m certain he’s destined for stardom.

You may have all the talent in the world but without good management, in this highly competitive business, you don’t really have much chance.

I think the Beatles’ greatest debt of gratitude to Brian Epstein must be from the very early days, before they’d made their first couple of records, when Brian came from Liverpool and literally “sold” them to the recording industry.

This doesn’t apply in every case, of course. But Brian found a recording manager, a recording company and a music publisher and convinced them that the Beatles were worth knowing.

Brian had doors slammed in his face and people didn’t want to know him or the Beatles, but he worked very hard.

I do feel that without him they would never have been pushed so well. He brought their great talents to everyone’s notice. Of course, with their talents they would have been discovered by someone but there are very few managers with anything like Epstein’s abilities.

Brian was so convinced by the evidence of his eyes and ears—and he had experience from running a record shop— that he was inspired to work like he did.

And I would say it was essential for any budding pop star to have a manager who feels like this about him or her.

How do you go about finding a good manager? There are no hard and fast rules. A lot of it is inspired guesswork, a lot of it is sheer luck.

But you should be guided by your own instincts. Instinct is a wonderful thing in show business and first impressions are often right.

You should look, of course, for an honest and reputable person. And you must be convinced that when they say “I will do this or that for you” they mean it and are capable of really doing their best to fulfil their promises.

You should feel the manager has a personal interest in you, believes implicitly in your talent, and that in the face of criticism or in a tight corner he will fight for you and defend you — and not just because he’s paid for it.

He should also be aware of your bad points and idiosyncrasies and know how to counteract them.

As in all basic rules, there is a middle path to follow. Don’t depart too far from it.

Publicity, of course, goes hand in hand with good management. But there is one point I must make: Too many people have the idea in the pop world that if you get a good publicity man — you can include the manager in this, too—you are made.

That all you need then is a little bit of patience, a bit of determination and the right song.

This just isn’t true. Publicity is never a substitute for talent. At its best all publicity can do is present the artist, using all the media available, in the best possible light.

With intelligent thinking between yourself, the management and the publicity man, you can knock off the rough edges, project the artist’s best points, and try to play down, and if possible remove, some of the bad ones.

And there must be mutual trust. For instance, with the Kinks, we appreciate each other’s sense of humour. I appreciate their talents and I think they appreciate my professional ability, publicity-wise.

They know I’m working for them and although they may not see that what I am doing is the right thing, they do trust that eventually I will be shown to be right.

If you’re going to buy a new car or an odd looking shirt, if you’re going to change your hairstyle, if your dog is having pups, if your wife is having a baby, or whatever you are up to, it’s your duty to keep the publicity man informed.

It’s then up to him to see it is exploited in the right way. Keeping an artist’s name before the public in an interesting and glamorous way is very important.

NEXT WEEK: I’ll tell you about the time time even the Beatles needed publicity in 1964. And how to find the “right song”.

The post How to become a pop star appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.