Neil Bogart: devil or angel ?

[Marcio**]

"Sometime in 1975, Neil Bogart, owner of Cassablanca records, debuted a Donna Summer record called "Love to Love You Baby" for a party of friends at his home. His guests were apparently so enamoured of the song that the record was played four times in a row. The next morning, Bogart phoned Moroder, who had sent the record a week prior, and requested that the track be extended to 20 minutes for club rotation (the actual track turned out to be just less than 17 minutes). "Love to Love You Baby" was a distinct departure from the incumbent Rock of the time. The five-piece rock band is augmented by synthesized textures and an orchestra (reminiscent of the big band era). Melodies come from brass, woodwind and string sounds alongside the usual guitar, bass, and keyboard combination. But even more distinctive than the melodies is the beat, which features a '4-to-the-floor' kick drum pattern performed by the Roland 606 drum machine (the first fully programmable drum machine, released just several months earlier)."

by Digs Dorfman :D

http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/Issues_in_ea/Digs.htm


"I was robbed in terms of finances over the years, by things that were taken that shouldn’t have been. I’m not bitter though. I was with a company (Casablanca) that really spearheaded the whole dance movement. The guy who did it at the time (Neil Bogart) was very insightful, he knew what to do with me. He taught me a lot. He took at times, more than he should have, may he rest in peace, but that’s life. I don’t dwell on it."


by Donna Summer :D


"beatboxbetty_donnasummer"

[BrunoRepublic]

But even more distinctive than the melodies is the beat, which features a '4-to-the-floor' kick drum pattern performed by the Roland 606 drum machine (the first fully programmable drum machine, released just several months earlier).

This story has at least one factual error: Roland's 606 did not come out until the early 80s. The first programmable drum machine was Roland's CR-78, and that did not come out until the late 70s, long after LTLYB was released.

[Bernie]

From the 2003 AJ Cervantes interview:

Cervantes recalls being asked to attend a social gathering at Neil Bogart’s house on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills and hearing a 3 minute demo of "Love To Love You Baby" by then unknown Donna Summer produced by Giorgio Moroder. Bogart said to them that they were going to go back in the studio and cut it into a fifteen-minute plus track. Cervantes explains, "Never in my promotion and marketing career was there ever a situation where more radio stations quickly added a record-it was wildfire. It was resisted in some levels in the South, but they played it anyway."

Cervantes was asked to help promote Donna Summer in the Midwest and he quickly had her performing at clubs and Discos to a backing acetate track with the highlight being a performance at an upscale club called Faces on Chicago’s Rush Street. Not many people knew her name and Cervantes says that although they became good friends he initialy introduced her as Donna SummerS.

When asked what his thoughts on Donna Summer and her singing talents were he replies, "I was blown away. When I first heard the finished track (Love To Love You Baby) I had a local promotion man call and cynically say that it sounds like a female Barry White.

Full interview at:
http://www.discomusic.com/people-more/56_0_11_0_C/

[Eurodancemix]

You can say the same about so many record execs...

Look at what Berry Gordy and Motown Records did to so many artists...they didn't give them their due royalties until they were forced to do so by court order in the early 90's.

Then, look at what Bill Motley, Marty Blecman and Moby Dick Records did to Lisa ("Jump Shout", "Rocket To Your Heart", "Invisible Love"). She was paid a flat $500 for recording the whole Lisa album and never received a single penny in royalties.

It's everyone's fault: the execs shouldn't be so stingy but the artists shouldn't be so naive and quick to sign the contracts.