Posted on 08/21/2013 10:07:51 AM PDT by Borges
The man who brought The Beatles to America and sparked the 'British Invasion' has died.
Music promoter Sid Bernstein has passed away today, aged 95.
Bernstein got the Fab Four their gig at Carnegie Hall in New York after their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 and Bernstein also booked them at Shea Stadium.
Sam Leach, who promoted the Beatles in the UK, paid tribute to Bernstein.
He said: "He was like my equivalent in America.
“He brought the Beatles to America and he was very proud of the part he played in their amazing story.
“Sid has left a great legacy. We were good friends and he was a really great guy.
"He was the nicest guy in showbiz and he was not like the ruthless promoters you get nowadays. He loved what he did and he was very genuine. He was the best promoter in New York."
Bernstein also organised concerts for Frank Sinatra, Lenny Kravitz and Jimi Hendrix.
And yet managed to make proto versions of almost every subgenre of rock to come, heavy metal, arena rock, punk, art rock, theatrical rock. The list of things they did first is epic, and the did it all so well.
They did nostalgia-flavored songs really well too. But the same summer of ‘64 when they recorded ‘You Really Got Me’, the Beatles released the ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ album which also had proto metal (the title song).
I wonder what happened to the American record execs who first turned down the Beatles? Great judges of talent. (snicker)
Got Me added the distortion, which with that one razor slice by Dave rewrote rock history.
And later that year the Beatles added more blatant distortion to song (though the song didn’t really need it)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Feel_Fine
There have been a few girl singers/girl groups that I've seen as "sexy" but even many of those that weren't have been damn talented...the Ronettes included.But you're right to point out that the Ronettes had class in addition to talent...something that all but impossible to find today.
But the Kinks did it first, and had done it more times even before the Beatles did, and when The Who ripped it off is was specifically to sound more like the Kinks.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy!
That Georgia’s always on my mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind.
Regarding The Ronettes, Nedra Talley later became a part-time gospel singer. There are some recordings of her gospel songs on YouTube. She has a pretty, poignant voice. Estelle Bennett, usually considered the prettiest Ronette, recorded a couple of songs on her own but never caught on as a solo act. In her later years she suffered from mental illness and depression and was rumored to have spent some time homeless. She died a few years ago. Lead singer “Ronnie” Spector continues performing to this day.
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