Richie Stanley Becker is a man with a plan who does not take no for an answer. It sounds corny, people will smile and understand that the story fits the description perfectly. His persistence resulted in groundbreaking music, developing new genres and paving the way for many artists. Not many people in this industry carry the title, “Starmaker” like Richie Becker does.
Here’s the story:
“It all started in a record store in New York called “The Colony Record Shop.” After the show closed at night, all the stars would come to the shop. I work there because all the famous people are there. These two songwriters come to the shop. They at all times love what I share with them. One day they came up to me and said, “We like you, we think you will be successful one day.” They recommended me to Johnny Marks. Johnny Marks writes the songs “Rudolf the red-nosed deer” And “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” (To name a few). I shipped all of these Disc Jockeys albums in NYC. When the job was done, he recommended me at the age of 19 to Shapiro & Bernstein Music Publishers. I promoted their songs and scores for movies, many of them ended up in movies like “Guns of Navarone” (1961) and “Walk on the Wild Side” (1962).
I was sent on a road trip and my first stop was Nashville, Tennessee, the Capital of the Western States. While I was in Nashville I contacted a disc jockey named, Noel Ball who is Nashville’s Dick Clark. When he met me he said “I’m looking for a guy like you to start a publishing company, you look like a real hustler.” I did business with Ball when I worked for Shapiro & Bernstein Music Publishers. I feel that being a partner and working with someone I can earn more money and there are more opportunities than simply being a worker. Noel is the head of A&R for the Southern Division of Dot Records. I knew I was in business with the right people and took my chances.” said Richie.
Richie and Noel Ball have two men; Rick Hall and Tom Stafford came into the office with notes. “We listened to the record and were like, ‘We think this is a hit record.’ We find everybody in business rejecting these records. We not only like the song, we also like the artist. The title of the song is, “You Better Moveand the Artist is Arthur Alexander. Noel Ball asked Dot Records to release the record. Ball got them a royalty deal with Dot Records. I bought half of publishing from Stafford and acquired half of management for Arthur Alexander. At that time I was still with Shapiro & Bernstein Music Publishers and traveling to promote my stuff with theirs. I got a record to play everywhere. When I returned, the general manager of Shapiro & Bernstein Music Publishers came to the office and fired me. Then, I contacted Dick Clark and brought Arthur Alexander to the Band Stand. The record became an enormous success and “You better move on” was the first hit recorded and commenced the Muscle Shoals Sound.
During that time I needed someone to handle foreign publishing rights in Europe for, “You’d better Move.” I’m not equipped to do it myself. I took the record and played it for Mike Stewart in NYC who later became president of United Artists Music. He heard the tape and said it was an enormous hit. He sent it to his UK representative, Noel Rogers. Noel Rogers got the Rolling Stones to cover Arthur Alexander’s “You’d better Move.” It was their debut EP and it was what made their first recorded album. It went to #1 in Europe and have become a Gold record in America. In the interim, Arthur Alexander recorded another song entitled, ‘Anna Go to Him. It went to #10 in R&B. I needed someone to handle rights in Europe for me, so I went back to my old employee, who fired me (Shapiro & Bernstein) and said, ‘Let it go and be friends. I want you to hear this recording by Arthur Alexander“Anna go to Him” They love it. I asked us to be partners 50/50 and they agreed. They gave me an office, this time with a secretary and they sent the note to a man named Cyril Shane. Cyril Shane lands The Beatles on “Anna Goes to Him”. It was on their first album, Please, Help Me. “Anna Goes to Him,” was the first song they covered on that album. The album went to #1 in the UK. It was on the charts for 30 weeks at #1. Last year, it made the Guinness World Book of Records for being at the top for 30 weeks.
I got a call from my banker that there was a noted pastor and gospel singing songwriter in Newark who was having financial difficulties and might lose his house. I met with Alex Bradford and asked the bank to help him take care of his house and we became business partners. He wrote a musical with additional music by Micki Grant entitled, “Your Arms Are Too Short to Fist with God.” Vinnette Carroll is a director and through his connections we speak with Gian-Carlo Menotti who started a festival called, Festival of Two Worlds. He loved the show Menotti so much that the Italian Government commissioned this show in Spoleto, Italy. The show went to Italy and have become an enormous success. The top music critic of all time, Clive Barnes wrote an excellent review and said the show should come to Broadway. We contacted all the major producers on Broadway and all of them turned down the show.
A lady named Frankie Hewitt (Don Hewitt’s husband from 60 Minutes) was the artistic director of the Fords Theater in Washington DC. He said he wanted to see the show. He came to NYC to see a segment of the show. He was moved and wanted a show at the Fords Theatre. Through his efforts the show made history as it was the first time he had gotten the Fords Theater board to sponsor the show. They had their world premiere there and stayed for 7 months at the Fords Theatre. Then he put on shows on the street – everywhere they sold out. We then took him to Broadway with all the unknowns. Dolores Hall won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.
We found a girl and opened another show with Jennifer Holliday. Through my show, he became a star Dream girl. After that, we opened the event again with Al Green (2014 Newest Kennedy Center Award) and Patti Labelle. The show sold out even in 1982 in its third Broadway opening since 1976 at the Alvin Theater (Renamed the Neil Simon Theatre). No other musical revival has opened on Broadway as many in such a brief amount of time. Revivals normally occur every 15-20 years. Due to requests, it keeps coming back. This show makes people into stars. Teddy Pendergrass made his stage debut in this show as a preacher in 1996 with Stephanie Mills and BeBe Winans at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia. Teddy came back and they added a song called “Truly blessed.” That’s the name of his biography now. The show was brought back to Newark, NJ with stars like Cissy Houston (Whitney Houston’s Mother) & Melba Moore. Vinnette Carroll and the late Jerry Moore are responsible for incorporating many of these stars into our show. My story continues, because as we speak, we are talking about revival. I have plenty of side projects in progress. I’m happy to share my journey with you.
