27. In Hindsight, New Year’s 1962 Was Not a Happy One for This Business Executive
In the 1950s and 1960s, few men wielded more influence in Britain’s music industry than did Richard “Dick” Rowe. The head of Decca Records’ A&R (artists and repertoire), Rowe was the man in charge of finding new artists who showed promise. Although he became famous – or infamous – for an epically bad business decision, Rowe was overall pretty good at what he did. Among other artists, he signed The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Cat Stevens, The Animals, and Them, the band that launched Van Morrison. Unfortunately, his reputation and name would be forever tied with the one group he failed to sign.
It began on New Year’s Day, 1962, when Brian Epstein, the manager of an unheralded musical group, took his young talents to audition with Decca Records at their studios in West Hampstead, North London. They were there at the invitation of one of Rowe’s A&R subordinates, Mike Smith, who had heard the band play a few weeks earlier. He liked what he heard enough to ask them to do a session at Decca’s studio. The group drove to London all the way from Liverpool, in the middle of a snowstorm, and made it just on time for their 11 AM audition.
