The music publisher who was the co-founder of Northern Songs, Dick James had a varied career in the music business.
The son of Polish Jewish immigrants, he was born Reginald Leon Isaac Vapnick on 12 December 1920 in London’s East End. In his early teens he sang with dance bands in the capital, sang regularly at the Cricklewood Palais, and found success with the Henry Hall band.
He made his first radio broadcast in 1940, and joined the army in 1942. After the war, while working with band leader Geraldo, he was encouraged to change his name to the more commercial-sounding Dick James.
Following World War Two he had some success with the Cyril Stapleton Orchestra and in 1955 had several UK hits with vocal group The Stargazers. He wrote Max Bygraves’ children’s hit I’m A Pink Toothbrush, I’m A Blue Toothbrush, and in 1956 was signed by George Martin to Parlophone. Martin produced Dick James’ biggest big hit, the theme for the 1950s British television series The Adventures Of Robin Hood.
As his singing career began to wane, Dick James entered the music publishing business. He established Dick James Music in 1961. Early in 1963 he was contacted by Brian Epstein, who was looking for a publisher for The Beatles’ second series ‘Please Please Me’.
Epstein told George Martin that he was considering letting US company Hill & Range, publishers of Elvis Presley’s songs, handle John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s original compositions. Martin suggested that he instead consider somebody smaller and “hungrier” for success, and put forward Dick James’ name.
James reacted positively to Please Please Me, but during their first meeting Epstein asked what he could do for The Beatles that EMI’s publicity department couldn’t. James picked up the telephone and called Philip Jones, the producer of the hit show Thank Your Lucky Stars, who agreed to give The Beatles their first nationwide television appearance. The action was enough to seal the deal.
Brian knew Dick James, who was famous for singing ‘Robin Hood’ on the TV series and had started his own music-publishing company. John and Paul were beginning to write their own songs and Brian played him some tapes of theirs.Dick James got the rights to the single Please Please Me, and all the subsequent songs, too. We were all pretty naive back then and I think that The Beatles have all since regretted the deals they got into regarding song ownership.
Following the success of Please Please Me, James proposed that he and Epstein start a separate company, Northern Songs, to publish Lennon and McCartney’s original compositions. On the morning of 22 February 1963 the songwriters were driven to a small Liverpool mews house where they signed the necessary contracts.
Brian was at the house with a lawyer-type guy, but nobody said to us, ‘This is your lawyer and he’s representing your interests in this thing.’ We just showed up, got out the car, went into this dark little house, and we just signed this thing, not really knowing what it was at all about, that we were signing our rights away for our songs. And that became the deal and that is virtually the contract I’m still under. It’s draconian!John and I didn’t know you could own songs. We thought they just existed in the air. We could not see how it was possible to own them. We could see owning a house, a guitar or a car, they were physical objects. But a song, not being a physical object, we couldn’t see how it was possible to have a copyright in it. And therefore, with great glee, publishers saw us coming.
We said to them, ‘Can we have our own company?’ They said, ‘Yeah.’ We said, ‘Our own?’ They said, ‘Yeah, you can. You’re great. This is what we’re going to do now.’ So we really thought that meant 100 per cent owned. But of course, it turned out to be 49 per cent to me and John and Brian, and 51 per cent to Dick James and Charles Silver.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The initial share capital for Northern Songs was £100 in £1 shares. Dick James received 25 per cent of the shares, as did his accountant and financial partner Charles Silver. Lennon and McCartney were each given 20 per cent, and Epstein received 10 per cent. Northern Songs was administered by the company Dick James Music, with directors Brian Epstein and Dick James.
The deal outwardly seemed fair, but James and Silver had one more share between them than Lennon, McCartney and Epstein. The act would have devastating repercussions for Lennon and McCartney in later years.
There was always this voting share that could beat us. We could only muster 49; they could muster 51. They could always beat us. John and I were highly surprised to find that even though we’d been promised our own company, it actually was a company within Dick James’s company that was to be our own company. And we thought that’s not fair at all, but this was just the way they pulled the wool over our eyes. And we were on such a roll creatively, you couldn’t just take a year off and sort out the business affairs. We had no time. We never met this Charles Silver guy; a character who was always in the background. Jim Isherwood clued us in a little bit as to who he was. He was the Money, that was basically who he was, like the producer on a film. He and Dick James went in together, so Silver always got what was really our share! There were the two of them taking the lion’s share, but it was a little while before we found out.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
It just goes to show the sort of sharks there are in the music business. I think it’s criminal that John and Paul never owned any of their songs.It’s like having your babies taken away from you.If they’d been offered a decent lawyer the situation would have been sorted out and they wouldn’t have been sxxt on by unscrupulous music moguls who didn’t care about them anyway.
Would you, or anyone for that matter know who Lennon and McCartney are had it not been for Dick James. Or The Hollies, The Troggs, Al Stewart, others….many by the way. Think about this before you answer.
The article states that James worked hard on behalf of the group. The only thing he and his cronies worked hard at was in enriching themselves at the Beatles expense.
Mr. James’ first name (well his nickname) says it all about him and his company.
I can not believe Epstein let the boys do that deal. UNBELIEVABLE!!
It was a standard deal for the time. As a for example: Justin Hayward got a princely £10 note for the rights to “Nights In White Satin”.
Previous to the Beatles, there had been other robberies in rock n’ roll concerning song-writing as far as publishing (and claims of co-authorship as well). Artists such as Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Chuck Berry, for instance, suffered from one or both of the enterprises I mentioned above.
Since the Beatles triumph was only equalled previously in rock n’ roll by Elvis Presley, there was no comparable measuring stick that existed. Unlike Elvis, the Beatles were successful song writers.
Brian Epstein’s main experience in music before signing the Beatles was in managing a local record store. When Northern Songs was created, Epstein had only managed the group for about a year and a half. His contributions in that time frame was obtaining more gigs, putting them in suits and his undying belief in the Beatles. These contributions were integral to the Beatles’ success.
In retrospect, however, his woeful lack of knowledge in dealing with London sharpies cost John and Paul dearly (and George as well to a lesser extent).
George Martin, to his everlasting credit, refused a percentage by James for sending the Beatles his way and although he never said out right, he hinted that he thought the Beatles got screwed and was glad he “could sleep at night”
George Martin was The Beatles’ record producer, not manager, and besides, it was Allen Klein who turned out to be a real thug, not Brian. John admitted in 1973 that Paul was right about Klein.
Brian was far from incapable of saying no, because he rejected George Martin’s suggestion that “Yesterday” be released as a solo 45 by Paul, adamant that The Beatles were not splitting up, and he informed EMI that he was no studio album for the 1966 Christmas market, hence the ‘Oldies but Goldies’ compilation as some means of compensation. It is also well-documented that Brian managed other groups as well, namely Gerry and The Pacemakers, so his life didn’t revolve around The Beatles 24/7.
Dick James’s son Stephen has disputed the way his father was portrayed in the Elton biopic “Rocket Man” – https://www.nme.com/news/music/son-of-record-mogul-dick-james-hits-out-at-his-fathers-portrayal-in-rocketman-2497557.
What’s not stated here is that Dick James gave J&P an extraordinary deal in 1962…normally songwriters owned NONE of their own copyright. And J&P hadn’t even had a Top 10 hit as yet.
And it certainly needs to be stated that Dick James aggressively worked on behalf of the Beatles. It was money in his pocket to do so, and he certainly did, getting them television exposure in the early days as well as calling all his radio contacts and simply giving the Beatles and Brian Epstein his office to use anytime they were in London.
An average publishing deal in 1962 would have had Dick James owning 100% copyright of J&P’s songs. He didn’t do that. Give him some credit.
As one around at that time in another Tin Pan Alley publishers office, I totally agree with your comments regarding ownership of songs. Songwriters normally got 50% of royalties and the music publisher the remainder but retained total ownership of the song for the full term of copyright then 50years after death of the last writer. To give a share of the ownership was unheard of, that was to follow a few years later. We had Gordon mills and les reed under contract for “Its not unusual ” on a 50/50 and as Gordon became more successful we increasingly adjusted our percentage and ultimately ownership of songs with him. Interesting how people forget the different values we had in those days
It was still a bad deal regardless and it was held over their heads for yrs. A publisher only gets 20% now and it took yrs of court rulings to get that. Brian should have never gotten a penny for song writing royalties. Period. NEMS was created because of the Beatles’ success and they never got a dime of that !
My man, no publisher in history ever got 100% The publisher should never get more than 20% Go check out songs by Sammy Cahn, Hoagy Carmicle. James was a rip off even in those days. It was Brian Epstein’s fault. You don’t have a clue to what you’re talking about. Who in the hell ever told you a publisher gets 100% ? They saw you coming too !
You can’t be half pregnant, or half screwed. James screwed John and Paul and pulled the wool over Brian Epstein’s eyes. That is what the Men In Suits always do. Capitalism at it’s worse. It’s like what Lennon sang, You want a Revolution, then count me out……In. Substitute Capitalism for revolution and you get the picture. Epstein’s management skills were basic at best. He wanted to manage the Beatles because he fancied John Lennon. During Epstein’s weekend away with Lennon, Lennon said, “it wasn’t consummated,” but in effect, both he and McCartney were already screwed. Epstein’s untimely death revealed what a right mess the management of the Beatles was in, and if my memory is correct, Paul McCartney had not signed the management contract. Royalties only became important when the hits kept coming, and the money rolled in. What irony that James sang about Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The Beatles were screwed throughout their career, and the Men In Suits enriched themselves on the talent of others.
I disagree with what you say about Brian, because he was capable of renegotiation and saying no. He was not a bad manager and in fact, he also managed other acts too, not just The Beatles – it’s rather telling that the Beatles generally spoke fondly of him whereas Allen Klein has been vilified and never rehabilitated, according to Peter Doggett.
IMO, Brian has been unfairly denigrated and vilified by biographers who almost invariably but inaccurately call him crummy when he was nothing of the sort.
If The Beatles were constantly screwed throughout their career, it’s very unlikely that they would’ve been able to afford not just nice big houses and nice things for themselves, but for their relatives as well.
We might well know who Paul McCartney is or who John Lennon was had Dick James not signed these guy’s to publishing contracts but one thing is certain. Without James’s involvement, this story would have taken a completely different path. I know because I worked for Dick James Music.
That’s true.
It is patently false J&P didn’t understand profits of songwriting when they signed an agreement with Dick James. They had already received a number of royalty checks based on “Love Me Do” by that point; pretty handsome money at that given what they were making on stage, and this was not money being shared with George or Ringo. It was strictly J&P’s money.
To rewrite history that J&P in late 1962/early 1963 “didn’t know” you could own a song – is incorrect.
Hindsight is always 20/20 they say and if there is a case to prove it here it is. John and Paul made a lot of money regardless. Had it been a badly written contact or they signed under duress a court probably could have negated it somehow. It is hard to do all the work and songwriters need publishers for the most part as there are many ways to market songs and receive payments. John later hired Allen Kline who was a crook from day one so John apparently learned nothing but Paul did. So much for “genius”!
Artists are not really into financial dealings as we all know. Willie Nelson took his problem in stride saying he knew he was successful when he learned he owed the IRS 16 million dollars. Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote and performed “Working For MCA” for their record signing party. The song’s lyrics warned the suits that they were going to be watched and count every penny! Most bands never realized that hotels and limos etc was coming out of their end of the deal! Even artwork on album covers! One band’s manager refused contracts like that and forced the company to foot the bill for everything, the notorious and often brutal Peter Grant who managed Led Zeppelin. Grant had four aces and the record company knew it.
was eppy black mail because he was gay? could that be the reason why john and paul got screwed? lennon recommended james years later when apple music publishing could have published taupin/john.
Imho John and Paul screwed up when Northern Songs went public in 1965. Up until then the two owned 50% of Northern songs. They should of insisted on a 50% share when Northern Songs went public. By not getting that deal they lost the control they had for publishing. Very true that they still got the songwriting credit. The only people I know of who owned their own publishing as artists in the fifties and sixties were Buddy Holly and Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five. I’m sure there are others.
They obviously still got their songwriting royalties and AFAIK, there is no evidence that they signed away their royalty rights.
Buddy Holly owned his own publishing? Since when?