Hugh’s Archive Deep Dive 6.
Dee Anthony meeting with members of King Crimson at the start of the US Tour in February 1972.
Dee Anthony speaking to Robert Fripp at The Armoury in Wilmington, Delaware.
Dee Anthony was King Crimson’s heavyweight manager in the USA from 1969 to 1972, part of the old school of artist representatives that was populated by larger-than-life characters like Don Arden and Peter Grant. The band’s British managers, David Enthoven and John Gaydon, were cut from a different cloth, being young, well-heeled and educated at elite private school Harrow. But the American market was the key to a band's success and meant that having a management company with local knowledge was essential, and EG put together what was then arguably the best in the business. Robert Fripp writing in 1997 described them as “a formidable team, and a large factor in Crimson’s take-off in the US”, going on to detail:
“Premier Talent was our American agency, headed by Frank Barselona, with a young Barbara Skydel. Today they continue to act for ELP. Atlantic was our US record company, with Frank’s wife Joan handling Crimson publicity in Atlantic. Our American management was a friend of Frank’s, Dee Anthony, himself a person of legend, and who afterwards managed several English artists, including ELP, Joe Cocker and Peter Frampton.”
Dee Anthony and Frank Barselona.
Dee was also a close friend of Bill Graham, America's number one promoter, a fact that guaranteed his artists would get on the bill at prestigious venues, the Fillmore East and West and Winterland in San Francisco.
Born Anthony D’Addario in 1926, he had grown up in the Bronx. A veteran of World War 2, he served in the US Navy submarine force, winning three medals. After the war he opened a luncheonette and found his way into artist management, firstly for a neighbourhood friend, Jerry Vale, then after a change of name, a chance meeting led to a 10 year stint managing Tony Bennett, an experience that taught him every aspect of the music business. Sensing a change in the musical landscape in the late 60s, Dee started managing rock bands, taking on Detroit proto-punks the MC5, and became instrumental in paving the way for numerous British bands coming to America. Early successes included securing prominent slots for Ten Years After and Joe Cocker at Woodstock.
Dee set up Bandana Enterprises with offices on Park Avenue in New York, while his younger brother Bill headed up operations on the West coast.
Known for a hands-on management style, he really looked after his artists and helped to hone their stage acts. “We knew the importance of the stage show, pacing, lighting, as opposed to just doing a song and that's it”, or as Bill Graham put it: “he relates to how an artist handles himself on stage.” Described by Greg Lake, on their first meeting at JFK airport, as “a tidal wave of enthusiasm and positivity”, he accompanied the band on many of their concert dates where he was able to expedite their progress through his many contacts and his general ability to make things happen, whether that meant greasing palms or other forms of persuasion.
In 1969, the day after they arrived in New York, after spending all day overseeing the cutting of the LP, Ian McDonald recorded in his diary: “Had dinner with Dee Anthony at his place, went to see band audition with Dee”. A few days later in Boston, “went for meal with Dee Anthony and Co at Barneys restaurant. Good meal. Rush to get back. did Tea Party.” The management offices were also a vital lifeline to loved ones back home, serving as a hub for mail, especially so for Ian who was badly missing his girlfriend Charlotte Bates, a factor that would ultimately contribute to the breakup of the band at the end of the tour, “To Bandana - 3 letters from Charlotte! met Joe Cocker. back to hotel then back to Dee Anthony's for dinner, Joe Cocker and band.”
This was an era when groups got paid in cash. Someone had to turn up with a briefcase and count ticket stubs. One such bag man was Neil Ratner who would later work for ELP and form a production company with ex-Crimson roadie Vick Vickers. Dee had taken him under his wing and taught him the ropes, famously imparting: “The most important lesson I can teach you:
- Get the money
- Remember to get the money
- Don’t forget to always remember to get the money”
A strategy that ensured he did well for his artists, as well as for himself. In the latter case perhaps a little too well? Well that was apparently the opinion of Steve Marriott who saw the career of his former band mate Peter Frampton skyrocket, while his own band Humble Pie slogged around the circuit in the company of King Crimson and others.
Some say Dee had connections to New York’s notorious Five Families, although he explained this away to Greg Lake as inevitable as an Italian-American working in the music business. The mob was well known to be involved in the operation of music venues, a fact that became abundantly clear in Chicago on November 7, 1969 when, overnight, after King Crimson had played the Kinetic Playground, the venue was burned down in a protection racket resulting in the band’s equipment being soaked by the fire department's hoses. They lost a Mellotron, getting off lightly compared to headliners Iron Butterfly whose entire backline was ruined. One story relating to Steve Marriott (headliner with Humble Pie on several dates on the King Crimson ’72 tour) who, after demanding to know exactly where the money had gone, had found himself in a meeting with his manager who happened to have brought along Gambino family crime boss John Gotti, perhaps as advice that this wasn't a worthwhile line of questioning for Steve to follow.
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida baby, Record Mirror reports the fire.
Extensive touring followed by a live album was Dee Anthony’s preferred strategy for his artists, one which brought him considerable success, most notably with Peter Frampton and Frampton Comes Alive. For King Crimson in 1972, the tour had not been without its challenges as it had already been decided that it would be the last by the Robert, Mel, Boz and Ian lineup. A live album did follow in the form of Earthbound, sourced from the cassette tapes recorded off the mixing desk. It had been Steve Marriott who had persuaded Dee to put the duo of Alexis Korner and Peter Thorup on the bill on Humble Pie's tour and when they overlapped with Crimson on several dates, Mel Collins recalls after-hours jamming in the hotel bars with Marriott, Alexis and Boz. It didn't take much after the Crimson tour concluded for Mel, Boz and Ian to jump ship and carry on playing with Alexis Korner and Pete Thorup, calling themselves Snape and cutting an album.
Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, Pete Thorup, Alexis Korner and Ian Wallace.
With Crimson broken up, business had come to an end with Dee Anthony. Only one mystery remained. The famous lost tapes, the 8 track recordings from Fillmore East in 1969, when King Crimson opened for Joe Cocker and had been allowed to use his recording setup under the stage. “I left them in Dee's office” said Vick Vickers, the recording engineer, years later.
Reflecting on his first tour of the USA, Greg Lake summed it up: “At heart the great people who were involved in King Crimson’s American tour had one essential thing in common: they were passionate about music - music as art first, business second. That is not to say that the business was unimportant, but they were led by the heart. They looked for the talent, they believed in the talent, then they sold the talent, and that's the way it worked.”
Listen in on King Crimson's 1972 tour when they were paired with various acts on Dee's roster, including the J. Geils Band and Humble Pie. 1972 Earthbound Tour
Read more about the 1969 US tour in Vick Vickers' A View From The Road
