Jesus Christ Superstar Ascends
July 31, 2006
In 1972, I was general professional manager of Warner Bros. Music, living in Hollywood, when my friend Don Williams, who held a similar position at MCA music, played me an acetate of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. I freaked out!!! My instinct told me …this was going to be a phenomenon!!! I asked Don to play it for Allan Rinde, the beloved head of Columbia records A+R dept….he was as excited as we were and proceded to hold listening parties…that included all of the underground tastemakers of the time.
MCA credits us with breaking the album. I hope Tim and Andy have forgiven me for trying to talk them out of writing “Evita”…..Who would go to see a show about an ex-dictators wife anyway?
photo l to r- Allan Rinde, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Williams, Tim Rice, and Artie Wayne
April 16, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Who could have thought that ‘Phantom of the Opera’ would make a popular musical either? Oh, wait, it already has opera music. Never mind.