21st November 1955, Monday

[Graeme]

Day number 7623Site Date Map

Yesterday << 21st November 1955, Monday >> Tomorrow

[Alan]

From the late great Brian Petersens website:-
      
      

Memphis Singer Presley Signed By
RCA-Victor for Recording Work
      
By ROBERT JOHNSON, Press-Scimitar Stafff Writer

      

Elvis Presley, 20, Memphis recording star and entertainer who stormed into bigtime and the big money almost overnight, has been released from his contract with Sun Record Co. of Memphis and will record exclusively for ELVIS PRESLEY - At 20, an RCA_Victor contract, grow- ing fame and a pink Cadillac.        RCA-Victor, it was announced by Sam C. Phillips, Sun president.       Phillips and RCA officials did not reveal terms, but said the money involved is probably the highest ever paid for a contract release for a country-western recording artist.       "I feel Elvis is one of the most talented youngsters today," Phillips said, "and by releasing his contract to RCA-Victor we will give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its kind in the world, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity. Handled by Parker       Negotiations were handled by Col. Tom Parker of Hank Snow Jamboree Attractions, Madison, Tenn.; Bob Neal, Presley´s per-sonal manager, and Coleman Tiley III of RCA-Victor.       Elvis Presley Music, a publishing firm, has been set up to handle much of Pressley´s music, in conjunction with Hill and

Range Music, Inc., New York City.       Bob Neal, WMPS personality, continues as Presley´s personal manager and will handle his personal apppearances and other activities, but Hank Snow Jamboree Attractions will handle Presley enterprises in radio, tv, movies and theaters.       Also taking part in negotiations were Hank Snow himself, RCA-Victor´s longest-term western star; Sam Esgro, RCA-Victor regional sales manager; Ben Starr of Hill and Range Music, and Jim Crudgington, local RCA-Victor representative.       Presley, who lived in Tupelo, Miss., until he was 14 and is a graduate of Humes High, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Presley, 462 Alabama.       Phillips signed him for Sun Records after Presley wandered in one day and wanted to have a recording made at his own expense.        Best-Seller Fast       His first record, "That´s All Right, Mama" and Blue Moon       BIG TIME - Elvis Presley, swift-rising sensation from Memphis in the country-mu- sic field, has just about hit the top. The 20-year-old singer has just been signed by RCA-Victor for record- ing work.

of Kentucky," hit the best-seller lists immediately after its release in July last year, and both Billboard and Cashbox, trade journals, named him most promising western star. He became a regular in Louisiana Hayride on CBS. His newest record, "Mystery Train" and "I Forgot to Remember," is his best-seller so far. Both songs were written by Stan Kesler and Charlie Feathers, a Memphis team. Tony Arden has just recorded "I Forgot to Remember" for Victor, and Peewee King´s latest is also a Kesler-Feathers composition.       All five Presley records have made the best-seller list.       Presley´s "Mystery Train" is now being played by pop disk jockeys as well as c&w in the east.       Sun has 10 country-western artists remaining on its label, including Johnny Cash and a new-comer, Carl Perkins of Bemis, Tenn., who writes his own music and who is causing a stir. This week Sun brings out a new feminine vocalist, Maggie Sue Wimberly of Florence, Ala., with songs by another Memphis composing team, Billl Cantrell and Quentin Claunch, who wrote a previous substantial country-western his, "Day Dreaming."        Rural-Style Singer, Elvis Presley, 20, Signed By RCA-Victor       MEMPHIS Nov. 22 (UP) - Elvis Presley, 20-year-old country-style singing sensation, has ben signed by RCA-Victor for recording work.       Presley, who lived at Tupelo, Miss., until he was 14, got his first chance to recoord from Sam C. Phillips of Sun Record Co. here.       Terms of the negotiations be-tween RCA and Phillips were not disclosed. In announcing the re-lease to RCA, Phillips said Presley "is one of the most talented young-sters today. By releasing his con-tract we give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its kind, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity.

---

      

$40,000 Pay-Off Reported
In Elvis Presley Deal
      
By ROBERT JOHNSON, Press-Scimitar Stafff Writer

      

Buy it with a song?       You sure can, if you sing it right. When Elvis Presley´s contract was acquired by RCA Victor from Sun Records of Memphis last week, it was announced that a record sum for buying a country-western artist´s contract was involved, but no figure was given by Sam Phillips, owner of Sun.       Billboard, the amusements trade publication, Page One´s the Presley deal this week and says it involved "a re-ported pay-off of $40,000 to Sun Records for Presley´s contract."       The 20-year-old Humes High graduate´s contract had only one year more to run, which shows what Victor thinks of him. RCA Victor got rights to five unre-leased Presley recordings, and will also bring out Presley´s current "I Forgot to Remember to Forget," No. 4 on the country-western best-seller list, under the Victor label, within a week.       Looks as tho not only Elvis but Sun Records is doing all right.

      

---

      Six days later, on November 21, Steve Sholes, Ben Starr, Coleman Tily, the Colonel, Tom Diskin, Hank Snow, local RCA distributor Jim Crudgington, and regional rep Sam Esgro all converged on the little Sun studio for the signing of the papers. Colonel Parker came accompanied by a document dated the same day stipulating that out of the 40 percent in combined commissions due the Colonel and Bob Neal (25 percent to the Colonel, 15 percent to Neal), there would be an even split for the duration of Neal's agreement, until March 15, 1956. The buyout agreement itself was a simple two-page document in which Sun Records agreed to turn “over all tapes and cease all distribution and sales of previously released recordings as of December 31, 1955, while the managers “do hereby sell, assign and transfer unto RCA all of their right, title and interest in and to” the previously exercised option agreement. The purchase price was $35,000; RCA undertook responsibility for the payment of all back royalties and held Sun Records harmless from any subsequent claims. Out of all this Elvis Presley wouId get a royalty of 5 percent as opposed to the 3 percent that he was currently receiving from Sun — this amoung to almost two cents more per record sold, which over the course of a million sales would come to about $18,000.
      In addition, as the result of a co-publishing arrangement that the Colonel had entered into with Hill and Range (who probably contributed substantially themselves toward the purchase price), Elvis would now receive half of the two-cent statutory mechanical fee and half of the two-cent broadcast fee on all new Hill and Range compositions that he recorded which would be registered through his own publishing company, If at this point he were to start writing songs as well, or, perhaps more pertinently if he were to start claiming songwriting credit for songs he recorded, a practice going back to time immemorial in the recording industry, he could increase his income by up to another two cents per side. Hill and Range, meanwhile, stood to gain an almost incalculable advantage over their competitors in the field by securing not just an inside track, but what amounted to virtually a right of first refusal from the hottest new singing sensation in the country.
      After the contract was signed, there was a picture-taking ceremony, with different configurations of the various parties involved. In one Elvis is flanked by the Colonel and Hank Snow, proud partners in Jamboree Attractions, while Bob Neal, to Snow’s left, jovially approves; in another Gladys plants a kiss upon her son’s cheek and clutches her black handbag as the Colonel pats her on the shoulder and Vernon looks stiffly on. In yet another Sam and Elvis shake hands across RCA attorney Coleman Tily. In all the pictures all the men are beaming — everyone has seemingly gotten exactly what he wanted. After the picture taking a number of the particpants dropped by for a brief on-air appearance on Marion Keisker's show in the brand-new WHER studios. “They thought it would be great fun,” said Marion, “if they all came over and we announced it. So they all crowded into the little control room, and we did a little four or five way interview, well, not really an interview, just a little chat. And in the course
of it, I remember, Hank Snow said, ‘I'm very proud this boy made his first appearance on the national scene on my section of the Grand Ole Opry.")
And he was being such a pompous ass about it, I couldn't help it. But I said, ‘Yes, and I remember, you had to ask him what his name was. That was a rather tactless thing for me to do.”
      Bob Johnson's story in the Press-Scimitar the following day was headlined “Memphis Singer Presley Signed by RCA-Victor for Recordi
Work.”
      
      Elvis Presley, 20, Memphis recording star and entertainer who zoomed into bigtime and the big money almost overnight, has been
released from his contract with Sun Record Co. of Memphis. . . . Phillips and RCA officials did not reveal terms but said the money involved is probably the highest ever paid for a contract release for a country-western recording artist. “I feel Elvis is one of the most talented youngsters today,” Phillips said, “and by releasing his contract to RCA-Victor we will give him the opportunity of entering the largest organization of its kind in the world, so his talents can be given the fullest opportunity.”
      
“Double Deals Hurl Presley into Stardom,” trumpeted the December
3 issue of Billboard.
      
      Elvis Presley, one of the most sought-after warblers this year, signed two big-time contracts as a recording artist, writer and publisher. RCA Victor beat out the diskery competition and signed the 19- year-old to a three years—plus options contract. Besides which, Hill & Range linked him to a long-time exclusive writing pact and at the same time set up a separate publishing firm, Elvis Presley Music, Inc., which will operate within the H&R fold. . . . Altho Sun has sold Presley primarily as a c.&w. artist, Victor plans to push his platters in all three fields — pop, r.&b., and c.&w. However, RCA Victor's speciality singles chief, Steve Sholes (who will record Presley), plans to cut the warbler with the same backing — electric guitar, bass fiddle, drums and Presley himself on rhythm guitar — featured on his previous Sun waxings.

---

      
Taken at the Peabody Hotel, I just grouped them into Elvis without tie, then with tie. Not any old tie, it's an official RCA tie.

[Alan]

The contract as shown under November 15th 1955 when it was written, but signed this day on November 21st 1955.