We Sometimes Made Bad Decisions…
At KBank Studio in 1961 we recorded a song as a demo called PETER RABBIT. Bob Helgeson and I owned our own label called M AND L RECORDS so I put the song on that label hoping to sell it to a major label in the future. I sent the record to all the major radio stations in the Midwest and we got a ton of air play.
When that happens, the word gets out and sure enough I got a call one afternoon from a guy named WINK MARTINDALE from Los Angeles. He said he was the A and R man for DOT RECORDS which was a major label. They were very interested in adding PETER RABBIT to the label and offered me two cents a copy which was pretty standard in those days.
I had been given some advice earlier from some friends in the business and was told to hold out for a little more money than that. I asked for four cents a copy and there was silence on the line for a few seconds. Wink then told me they would consider it and get back to me if interested. They never got back.
I made a major mistake. We might have had a huge hit on that major label. You may remember the name WINK MARTINDALE. He had a hit record of his own many years ago and was a famous GAME SHOW host on television for years.
I may have missed out on the big one, but we still had a lot of success with that song in the Midwest anyway in smaller proportions. The first picture is us at the studio the day we recorded PETER RABBIT.
I wrote this story in more detail in the book I wrote a few years back you can get it HERE.
Oh my gosh, I LOVE that song so much.