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Hank Medress (The Tokens] : After The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Capitol Recordsgave The Tokens a record production and publishing deal to produce ten sides, five singles. We had an office up there, and they let us use the conference room.
One day the Capitol Records receptionist buzzed me in my office. She said that there was a group outside with their manager who wanted an audition, but none of the Capitol A + R men had time to see them. I told her I'd be happy to see them. So they came back to my office with their manager, Ronnie Mack, and sang me a song that he wrote, He's So Fine. I said, "Oh, my God!" It was one of those times when you know something is an absolute smash! We already spent our $12,000 budget Capitol gave us to produce singles, so we went in and recorded it on our demo budget for the publishing company. We used Capitol Recording Studios, and it was the first time we ever played our own instruments on a record. I didn't even know how to play bass! Johnny Cue, our engineer, suggested that we use "Doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang", the catchy little figure the girls sing later in the record, in the beginning of the record as well.
CapitoI Records passed on it. Then I went to every record company in New York City, and everybody turned me down! I started with all the majors - RCA, MCA, Columbia - then I went to the small labels at 1650 Broadway, the Brill Building [1619], 1697 Broadway - everybody turned me down! Finally, I went to a little record company that was off the beaten track, Laurie Records . I played the record for Bob and Gene Schwartz. They locked the door and wouldn't let me out until we made a deal!
(Source : http://www.spectropop.com/HankMedress/index.htm)
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One day the Capitol Records receptionist buzzed me in my office. She said that there was a group outside with their manager who wanted an audition, but none of the Capitol A + R men had time to see them. I told her I'd be happy to see them. So they came back to my office with their manager, Ronnie Mack, and sang me a song that he wrote, He's So Fine. I said, "Oh, my God!" It was one of those times when you know something is an absolute smash! We already spent our $12,000 budget Capitol gave us to produce singles, so we went in and recorded it on our demo budget for the publishing company. We used Capitol Recording Studios, and it was the first time we ever played our own instruments on a record. I didn't even know how to play bass! Johnny Cue, our engineer, suggested that we use "Doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang", the catchy little figure the girls sing later in the record, in the beginning of the record as well.
CapitoI Records passed on it. Then I went to every record company in New York City, and everybody turned me down! I started with all the majors - RCA, MCA, Columbia - then I went to the small labels at 1650 Broadway, the Brill Building [1619], 1697 Broadway - everybody turned me down! Finally, I went to a little record company that was off the beaten track, Laurie Records . I played the record for Bob and Gene Schwartz. They locked the door and wouldn't let me out until we made a deal!
(Source : http://www.spectropop.com/HankMedress/index.htm)