24 Apr 1968: The Beatles reject to sign new artist David Bowie.

By editorial board on April 23, 2020

In 1968 David Bowie left the Deram label (a subsidiary of Decca) where his recording career had got off to an undistinguished start. He was keen to sign with Apple, a new record label set up by The Beatles to encourage new talent.

Manager Kenneth Pitt was rejected by Apple Records in May 1968. Apple was a new, small label initially besieged by numerous musicians, managers, agents, artists, and hucksters, and that the individual members of the Beatles were directly involved with many acts signed to the label. (beatlesFAQ)

McCartney with Mary Hopkins and Badfinger, and George Harrison with Jackie Lomax, but who in the Apple hierarchy actually listened to the submissions and presentations? Who rejected Bowie? Neil Aspinal, Alistair Taylor? Did one of the Beatles pass judgment on the youthful Bowie's Decca recordings?

Bowie's then manager, Kenneth Pitt duly submitted audition tapes and awaited a response Unfortunately, however Apple was. A further complication was that label would only recruit new talent with the agreement of all four (endlessly squabbling) Beatles.

The office was completely swamped with tapes. Most of the artists signed were people either the Beatles liked themselves or the close staff around the Beatles liked.

Did any of The Beatles listen to Bowie's audition tapes? Probably not. Even if they had given them their full attention, they were unlikely to have been impressed. After all, George Harrison had sat stony-faced through the first Crosby, Stills and Nash album and Bowie's early efforts paled in comparison.

From a speech David Bowie gave to the Berklee College of Music’s Class of 1999

“It’s impossible for me to talk about popular music without mentioning probably my greatest mentor, John Lennon.

Towards the end of the 70s, a group of us went off to Hong Kong on a holiday and John was in, sort of, house-husband mode and wanted to show Sean the world. And during one of our expeditions on the back streets a kid comes running up to him and says, “Are you John Lennon?” And he said, “No but I wish I had his money.” Which I promptly stole for myself.
[imitating a fan] “Are you David Bowie?”
No, but I wish I had his money.
It’s brilliant. It was such a wonderful thing to say. The kid said, “Oh, sorry. Of course you aren’t,” and ran off. I thought, “This is the most effective device I’ve heard.”

I was back in New York a couple of months later in Soho, downtown, and a voice pipes up in my ear, “Are you David Bowie?” And I said, “No, but I wish I had his money.”
“You lying bastard. You wish you had my money.” It was John Lennon.

 

DISCLAIMER: the images used by Videomuzic are for the purpose of criticism and exercise of the right to report news, in low quality, in compliance with the provisions of the law on copyright, used exclusively for the information content.
DISCLAIMER: Videomuzic usa le immagini per finalità di critica ed esercizio del diritto di cronaca in modalità degradata conforme alle prescrizioni della legge sul diritto d'autore utilizzate ad esclusivo corredo dei contenuti informativi.
Copyright © 2022 Videomuzic | Rome. ITA | Pictures, videos remain the property of the copyright owner, Any copyright owner who wants removed should contact us..
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram