On May 15th, 1965, The Four Seasons announced they had reached a court settlement with Vee Jay Records, which would allow the group to record for Mercury Records.
The 4 Seasons stayed with Mercury Records but agreed to cut one final record for Vee Jay Records.
Vee Jay agreed to pay the band, and their producer, Bob Crewe, approximately $200,000 in partial settlement of past royalties.
It was announced that Dionne Warwick would no longer continue negotiations to re-sign her contract with her longtime label, Scepter Records today (May 15th), 1971.
While commenting on the situation, the President of Scepter, Florence Greenberg, said that the inordinate amount of money required to continue the business relationship between Scepter and Warwick was an unwise decision for the company, despite the long-standing personal relationship the two had.
Ms. Greenberg also added that while both the label and Warwick had shared a long and profitable relationship, she regretted that the business decision needed to be made for the best of the company.
While walking through Motown one day I heard this beautiful voice. I looked in the office where it was coming from and sitting at the piano singing was this little white chick named Teena Marie.
She was shy, even bashful as she introduced herself to me. I asked her what she was doing there and she said she was signed to the company. We talked a little longer than I left.
One day I got a call from her manager Winnie Jones, who asked if I wanted to produce Teena. I said “send me some tapes” so I can hear some more of her voice. After I heard her I was geeked to produce for her… She had spent close to $400,000 recording and still no album.
After I listened to Teena’s voice carefully, writing for her was easy. The songs just seemed to come. “Déjà Vu,” a slow ballad about reincarnation, “Don’t Look Back,” a Temptation’s remake, “Turning Me On,” etc.
