BERT KAEMPFERT –

THE MAN .. THE MUSIC ..  THE MAGIC – 3

PART 3 / FIPS FINDS THE BEATLES I

A small number of music fans actually know who discovered the Beatles.  What a contrast it was : the fame and fortune looking “Fab Four” coming into contact with – of all people – “the invisible Mr Hitmaker” = Bert Kaempfert. 

But, seen from a certain angle, there duly IS some logic to be found in the meeting of Mr Kaempfert with the Beatles (or Beat Boys) .

 

Hamburg is the key word here : the city was Bert Kaempfert’s hometown, and if one knows that Hamburg actually is a harbour city, things become a bit more clear already.

The Liverpool based boys must have heard somewhere that “talented people” could “rise” quickly on the ladder of success if they went to perform in – for example – ‘the Top Ten club” located at the infamous “Reeperbahn”. 

Then, fate brought the two together : Bert Kaempfert, one night, probably during “a night on the town” and “by accident”  stumbled upon the four seemingly talented boys….

Bert – working as a talent scout for Polydor (or so called “A&R man” (Artist and Repertoire man) – at that time (1951-1960) brought the 4 illustrious “pop idols” (not yet then but…) to the Polydor recording studios where another English based artist, Tony Sheridan, was looking for some new material in order to make some money “for the trip home” …..

Actually, (it is very difficult to imagine this today, but it was the actual truth)-  the Beatles were in the exact same position : they had to find a way to “make money” because otherwise …. Well, who knows what might have happened …..?  Polydor proposed the 2 different artists (Sheridan and the Beatles) to make one single record, thus hoping that the income of such a “mixed” single would generate enough money for “everyone” to go where ever they wanted to go.

The “experiment” failed however and neither Sheridan, nor The Beatles made any profit from the recording in question(entitled : “My Bonnie…”)

Kaempfert, Sheridan and the Beatles worked together in the studio then for some time (a couple of weeks at the most) when, one day, the “redeeming” Phone call came from a certain Mr Brian Epstein.

He asked Bert Kaempfert “under which circumstances he could hire the Beatles and how the contract could be changed/adjusted with ref to their “release”…)  Bert Kaempfert replied : “no circumstances, no special arrangements : just “take them” !

All this  was possible because Bert’s record company “Polydor” didn’t have great confidence in these “four "long haired" beat boys” …. They (Polydor) saw no “great future” for the band, at least not in Germany.

The rest is history.   The “Fab Four” returned to England and soon, the true talent of these “kids” would become known to the whole World.

Bert Kaempfert, in an interview taken much later, said :

“Later, I was happy with the success of the Beatles, because it showed that I had been right from the very start.  I DID discover their unbelievable talent and it kinda re-inforced my position of A&R man with Polydor).

Soon after, Bert Kaempfert’s own talents became more and more obvious.

His arrangements of songs, his  new compositions, his new musical ideas …   It all pointed in one direction : that of a “man of Music” on his way to “A Musical Maestro” – a “Maestro” that would create a completely knew orchestral style/sound – a sound that would become known the World over as “The Kaempfert Sound”.

Between 1959 and 1973 alone, Kaempfert recorded and released some 30 albums on the Decca USA label.  For those interested in “the details of history” : in total The Beatles recorded 9 songs together with Bert Kaempfert – all of which were released on the Polydor label.