The Big Man of Decca Records
In the 1950s and 1960s, few wielded more influence in Britain’s music industry than Richard “Dick” Rowe. The head of Decca Records’ A&R (artists and repertoire), Rowe’s job was to find new artists who showed promise. Although he became infamous for an epically bad call, Rowe was overall pretty good at what he did. He signed The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Cat Stevens, The Animals, and Them, the band that launched Van Morrison, among others. Unfortunately, his reputation and name are forever tied with the one group he failed to sign.
It began on January 1st, 1962. Brian Epstein, the manager of an unheralded musical group, took his young talents to audition with Decca 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 them 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.
