Talk:Tell Laura I Love Her
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[edit] From John Leyton
From John Leyton Following the success of Biggles, Leyton attended a singing audition with producer Joe Meek, and subsequently recorded the song "Tell Laura I Love Her", which was released on the Top Rank label. At that time, however, Top Rank was undergoing a takeover by EMI, which had already released Ricky Valance's version of the same song. The John Leyton recording was withdrawn from sale, and the Valance version reached Number 1 in the UK chart. --Missjeanie 05:14, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
> added info --Missjeanie 05:36, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] from Decca
British Decca had several missed opportunies. In 1960, they refused to release "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson and even destroyed thousands of copies of the single. A cover version by Ricky Valance was released by EMI on the Columbia label which was #1 on the British charts for three weeks. In 1962 British Decca executive Dick Rowe turned down a chance to record a young group from Liverpool called The Beatles in favor of local beat combo Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Dick Rowe, head of the pop division, said of the Beatles, “We don’t like their sound, and ‘guitar music’ is on the way out”. (see The Decca audition) In retrospect this was a historic mistake, and the Decca audition has subsequently accumulated significant legend. Later refusals of note include The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann. However they earlier accepted another Merseyside singer, Billy Fury. --Missjeanie 05:17, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
> added info --Missjeanie 05:36, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Why did Decca withdraw?
I've always liked this song and found a reference in the Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald) article about Rolf Harris (22 July 2006) to it being withdrawn from sale on the grounds that it was vulgar and tasteless. Google gave me no more info. Can anyone answer?
Well, that was the reason they gave. See [1] After EMI released their version the British Safety Council protested and attempted to get it banned. Gr8white (talk) 01:34, 25 January 2008 (UTC)