Quote Originally Posted by motony View Post
Patricia Wright was the lead singer on "Oh Yea, Maybe Baby" as all the Crystals could sing.When I met the group the first time in 1971 it was Barbara, Dee Dee & Mary. Thats when I first had bad thoughts about Phil because they told me they got $5,000. out of him after "Theres' No Other" AND "Uptown" hit...they marched up to his office & told him they would not record anymore until he paid them...they went straight to his bank & cashed the check. They said "thank GOD he was not our manager" because they did real good on LIVE engagements.Phil wanted to control everything he was mad at them & thats why he went to Calif. & did "he's A Rebel" they said they were on their way to an engagement when they hear it on the radio & luckily Gene Pitney was on the same show & taught them the song because he wrote it for them but somehow the publisher had offered it to Snuff Garrett & Phil at the same time.
Yeah, that's right, Motony. The Phil Spector books all confirm that. Unfortunately, it was the norm back then. The record companies didn't pay the artists any more than they had to. As Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las said, and I've heard Ronnie Ronette say it, too, they weren't even thinking about money back then. For them, it was all fun and games at the time -- making records, wearing cool stage attire, plus the thrill of performing live on stage to the audiences' applause. They were having a ball, and they were just thrilled to be a part of it. When the girls did need the money, they had to fight to get it. It doesn't make it right, but it was a sign of the times -- not just with Phil.