Fact #33960
When:
Short story:
Gene Chandler records Duke Of Earl at Universal Recording Studios, Chicago, Illinois, USA. It will sell over two million copies and reach No1 in the USA.
Full article:
Calvin Carter (A + R man, Vee-Jay Records] : That was a funny story. Gene Chandler was with a group called the Dukays, and they had a record called Nite Owl, and Bill Sheppard had sent this other tape to the company they were with, and they passed on it.
We recorded in the same studio, and I was in the studio one day and I heard this song coming out of the mastering room, Duke Of Earl. So I went in there and said, 'What is that? Who in the hell is that?' He said, 'That's the Dukays,' and I said, 'Well, who's singing?' He told me it was Gene Chandler, and I asked if he was signed with anyone.
He said, 'No,' and I said, 'Well, let me have the record.' He said, 'Hey, you got it.' He offered to give me a third of that record for five hundred dollars, because Carl Davis was his partner at the time. Well, my people were in Paris, so I called them and told them, 'Look, I want to pick up this record for Vee-Jay.'
We picked up Duke Of Earl, and also the publishing on Nite Owl, for fifteen hundred dollars. I picked the record up, but then nothing happened for a while, because nobody believed in the record but me.
I finally got a release on it at the time of year nobody released records in those days, right before Christmas. It was really a fast seller. It broke out in Los Angeles at Wallach's Music City; they had lines around the block and bumper stickers that said Duke Of Earl. Shortly after New Year's, it had sold a million copies. In fact, it was our first million seller.
(Source : not known)
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We recorded in the same studio, and I was in the studio one day and I heard this song coming out of the mastering room, Duke Of Earl. So I went in there and said, 'What is that? Who in the hell is that?' He said, 'That's the Dukays,' and I said, 'Well, who's singing?' He told me it was Gene Chandler, and I asked if he was signed with anyone.
He said, 'No,' and I said, 'Well, let me have the record.' He said, 'Hey, you got it.' He offered to give me a third of that record for five hundred dollars, because Carl Davis was his partner at the time. Well, my people were in Paris, so I called them and told them, 'Look, I want to pick up this record for Vee-Jay.'
We picked up Duke Of Earl, and also the publishing on Nite Owl, for fifteen hundred dollars. I picked the record up, but then nothing happened for a while, because nobody believed in the record but me.
I finally got a release on it at the time of year nobody released records in those days, right before Christmas. It was really a fast seller. It broke out in Los Angeles at Wallach's Music City; they had lines around the block and bumper stickers that said Duke Of Earl. Shortly after New Year's, it had sold a million copies. In fact, it was our first million seller.
(Source : not known)