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.

BERT KAEMPFERT – 2

BERT KAEMPFERT AND POLYDOR

 

Bert signed his first artist contract with the record company Polydor and made his first recordings under the alias of Bob Parker.  Kaempfert wrote arrangements for Music publishers and also composed numerous Works like “Catalania”, “Explorer”, “Ducky” and “’Las Vegas.

He then was appointed as a producer and talent scout by Polydor and his productions of “Die Gitarre und das Meer” with Freddy Quinn and “Morgen” with Ivo Robic became top hits.  Both titles were awarded a Gold disc.  Kaempfert’s arrangement of the song “Muss I denn” for Elvis Presley – entitled Wooden Heart”  was a success the world over.

Early 1961 Bert arranged and produced “Wunderland bei Nacht” but the song did not meet with interest at  Polydor and so Bert took the work to the US , where, as “Wonderland by Night” it soon reached Number One in the charts and it was awarded a gold disc – making Kaempfert the first German bandleader to receive such an honour.

Polydor actually made a huge mistake by letting Kaempfert go to the US with “Wonderland” – they lost a lot of money that way….  Even more strange is what happened upon Bert’s return to Hamburg, where Kaempfert discovered “The Beatles” and again…. Polydor showed no great interest !

In order not to hinder their career, Bert released the Group unconditionally from their contract with Polydor.  (They were then hired by Brian Epstein)

 

Due to all these negative reactions by the Polydor company,  Bert became somewhat disappointed in the  company and hence he  intensified his contacts with Milt Gabler, responsable for the “European market” with Decca US.   Milt Gabler already had famous European stars such as Catarina Valente , Werner Muller, Dominico Modugno (“Volare” became a worldwide hit) and Kurt Edelhagen “under his wings” in America and was contineously in contact with the A&R people in Europe and with the Polydor staff in particular. 

But due to the immense popularity of both Valente and Werner Muller, these artists moved to bigger (and better paying) companies like Decca England and by the end of 1960, Catarina Valente and Werner Muller had moved to Decca UK leaving Milt Gabler with a “gap” in a part of his production schedule.  

Milt Gabler then turned to Kurt Kinkele of Polydor and asked him how they were going to replace the talented Werner Muller.   Kinkele replied that he had Faith in an A/R man named Bert Kaempfert.

Milt Gabler : “The only record I had at that time was “Midnight blues” because it was used by the Armed Forces Radio Network in Europe as their theme tune.  In America, the corny tune “Ducky” was more popular…(It was the second Kaempfert composition I had heard).

And then, as already mentioned above, Kinkele and Kaempfert came up with the immortal ‘Wonderland By Night”, a song of which Gabler said : “the song had a very original opening, it was a natural hit…Here in the US we would say that the song had an “ear catcher” immediately, after hearing the very First notes only…”

 

And so the artist “Marc Bones” (an initial alias used by Bert) / “Bob Parker” was on his way to an international career as Bert Kaempfert (and His Orchestra).

Polydor allowed Kaempfert to release a first album with Portuguese Fado’s (arranged by Bert obviosly) “Fados and wine” but this “ethnic” album could not reach a large audience so Polydor once more was hesitating to release further albums.   This recording and its release took place in 1958 and it wasn’t until 1960 that the actual Kaempfert sound (though still far away from the later distinctive Kaempfert sound) came to the foreground.

 

The album “Wonderland by night” (1960/Decca USA/DL74101-) represented the actual start of the successful Kaempfert sound.  Songs included in this album (eg “Happiness never comes too late” and “This song is yours alone” already pointed into the direction of the “true” Bert Kaempfert sound.

Despite the somewhat tense relation with Polydor, Bert Kaempfert stayed with them and no less than 44 albums were eventually released on the label.

Polydor also released 34 singles – which was significant for an orchestra – but in the US Decca did a better job with some 42 singles released on the American market.

Worldwide, sales of Bert Kaempfert records would break all records (period : 1960 up to 1980) : it reached the staggering number of 150,000,000 albums sold.  (To be continued...)

 

KAEMPFERT INFO FLASH - FIPS, FACTS AND FUN !

In the all-time top 10 of "most played" songs in RESTAURANTS
and BARS, Bert Kaempfert's "Strangers in the night" scores a 2ND place.  The only song that is being played (a bit :) more than Bert's "Strangers" is the song "My Way"  composed by Paul Anka.
(French release title : "Comme d'habitude".  This "silver medal" confirms the song's originality, musicality and melodic supremacy.