On a Wise Business Decision

Mike Smith was an Artists and Repertoire (A&R) man for Decca Records in London in the early 1960s. Decca was looking to add a recording artist to its cavalcade of popular music stars, the likes of which already included acts like Billy Fury and actress Haley Mills. Mike had the orders from his superiors to audition some acts and choose one, the one he thought would, obviously, bring Decca more fans and money.

So, Mike put out some feelers around the various connections he had in the UK. After sorting through some real stinkers and some pretty good acts, Mike decided he’d call in two of those acts who had applied and then make his decision on their live auditions in Decca’s London studios in West Hampstead. One of the groups was a local quintet and the other a quartet from the northwest of England.

Mike was a native of the London suburbs. He’d dabbled in music as a young man, learning a bit of trombone, but he found steady work as a recording engineer for the BBC’s foreign service. Many of his co-workers left that job to work for the up-and-coming company, Decca, and in the late 1950s, Mike joined them there. He soon found himself engineering for the likes of Montavani and Vera Lynn and other stars of the Decca firmament. He parlayed that role into his A&R gig under his mentor Dick Rowe, the head of the department.

In fact, it was Rowe who told Mike that he could only sign one act of the two who were auditioning that day. The first group, the northernerns, came into the studio after their long trip south to the capital city, and Mike could tell that they were unpolished. But, when they started to play, Mike could hear the talent behind that rough exterior. He was impressed. Then, the second group came in, the local London group, and they played for him. Here, Mike thought, was a really professional group. They looked as well as sounded the part. That group was called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Thinking of Rowe’s edict, he offered the contract to the London group. It made sense, he would say later, because not only were they the better group on the day, but also they wouldn’t have to travel so far (at Decca’s expense) to record as the notherners would have had to do.

All in all, it was a wise business decision.

Brian Poole and the Tremeloes would go on, under Mike’s guidance, to record several top-ten hits for Decca. Later on in the 1960s, Poole would leave the group, and, as the Tremeloes, they would find fame with mostly cover versions of hits singles. Mike would follow the Tremeloes to CBS records when his request for a raise was rejected by Decca upper management, and he produced several hit records over a long and distingushed career.

However, what Mike Smith is probably most famous for is not hiring that other band, the rough quartet from the north of England.

You know them as The Beatles.