Aldon Music At 1650 Broadway And A Historic Encounter With Carole King!
September 14, 2006
It was 1961…and it was my first day on the job at New York’s Lowe’s State Theater, yelling, “Immediate Seating for Gone With The Wind!” The most appealing part of the job was the location…it was only five blocks away from 1650 Broadway…the new Tin Pan Alley…the “hipper” Brill building! This was also the day that my Mother met me up at Aldon Music, where Al Nevins and Don Kirshner convinced her that I shouldn’t go to college but hang out in their offices , learn how to write songs and prepare myself to become a Rock and Roll Star!!!
Like Chuck Berry said, ” I studied hard hopin’to pass”. I took advantage of the chance to be around some up and coming talent who soon would become the most sucessful writers in music buisness history!
now As a wide-eyed 18 year old, I sat everyday in Aldon Music’s 1650 B’way office and became freindly with most of the writers who were signed…Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield (who helped me develop as a lyric writer), Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann (who taught me how to sing harmony), Gerry Goffin and Carole King (who showed me how to make demos), Jack Keller (who helped me with my chords), Larry Kolber (one of my first lyric partners), Russ Teitleman, Brooks Arthur, Billy Michelle, Al Gorgoni, Charles Koppleman, Don Rubin and a 14 year old Toni Wine.
I’d occasionally babysit for Carole King, while she was in the studio doing demos. In return she would play keyboards, arrange, and sing background when I had to put down my songs on tape. I remember one day she came in to play Don Kirshner her new song but he was still out to lunch. She asked me if I’d like to hear it while she was going over it.
She sat down at the old upright piano in the music room and started playing, “Tonight you’re mine completely…You give your love so sweetly…” I was spellbound, until the very last note of, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”. I sat there as she played it a few more times, knowing I wouldn’t be able to write anything of my own for weeks!
Then she was summoned to Don’s office. I think he liked it too…I kept hearing him yelling through the door, “It’s a Smash!…It’s a Fuckin’ Smash!”
Copyright 2011 by Artie Wayne- https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
CLICK HERE TO READ SALLY STEVENS EXCELLENT REVIEW OF “TROUBADOURS” featuring CAROLE KING AND JAMES TAYLOR ON PBS! http://rockphiles.typepad.com/a_life_in_the_day/2011/03/troubadours-the-movie-review.html
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September 14, 2006 at 11:55 pm
Great story, Artie!
I have a question about this song that you may be able to answer; through Spectropop, I heard “Not Just Tomorrow, But Always” by Bertell Dache. It’s the same chords and tune as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”, but with different words (and background vocals by Carole King). Do you know which song came first, and how the lyrics came to be changed?
Thanks!
David Z.
December 28, 2007 at 12:28 pm
i would think that “will you” came first but i’m not certain.incidently bertell dache was just another name for TONY ORLANDO who was singing demos for her at that
time.
December 31, 2007 at 9:46 am
i have been corrected by ARTIE, and in fact TONY ORLANDO and BERTELL DACHE were two different people.
thanks ARTIE.
February 3, 2008 at 7:13 pm
i am looking for a copy of the bertell dache version.it is good.i love the original.
yours
dave…
March 15, 2008 at 8:52 pm
To Dave:
The Bertell Dache recording of “Not Just Tomorrow, But Always” is available on the ACE (UK) cd, “The Answer To Everything: Girl ANSWER SONGS of the 60s”. It is presented in first time stereo, but some overdubbed background vocals present on the mono 45 are either mixed very low or are completely absent from this new stereo mix.
I have spent the last few years trying to prove that Bertell Dache and Tony Orlando were not the same person, and thankfully this ACE cd even includes a very small replica of a trade ad with Dache’s image. To this day, however, I STILL get into arguments with people about whether or not they are the same person or not, including one ebay seller who has banned me from his auctions for trying to correct him.
October 4, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I have the early Bertell Dache recordings uploaded on Youtube. On “Little Miss Happiness” you’ll find some rare footage of Bertell Dache, or Bertell Dash wich was his real name. He shall NOT be mistaken for Tony Orlando.
Anders from Sweden
November 22, 2008 at 7:11 am
i just want everyone to know tony orlando did not sing any of my uncle bertell’s songs. bertell dash aka bertelle dache and tony orlando were two differnt people. tony orlando knows he didn’t record those songs for carol king nor was he ever my uncle. i hope all the people who have been misinformed now know the truth. Bertell Dache was my late Uncle and Godfather Bertell Dash. He was my father’s youngest brother. he was the youngest of 10 children. My mom Lennie Dash and my Aunt Shirley Dash-Foreman had a fan club for Uncle Bertell. Before I was born in 1958, my mom lived with Uncle Bertell and my Late grandmother Gertrude Dash in Brooklyn while my father was stationed in the air force. As a young teenager of 17 uncle Bertell would had a beautiful voice. He sang on the Ed sullivan show with The Rays and also recorded demos at the Brill Bldg recording studios in NYC. He was very good friends with Carol King, Gerry Goffen, Bobby Darin when he was dating Connie Francis and later married to Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin even invite Uncle Bertell to his wedding to Sandra Dee. My mother loved Uncle Bertell so much that when I was born she asked him to be my Godfather. Thruout my childhood my mom always played Uncle Bertell’s 45’s on the hifi. I eventually went into the entertainment business because my godfather was in it.I felt that connection, though I can’t sing like he did. My talent is comedy. The person who Uncle Bertell admired the most was also the person who eventually led Uncle Bertell down a bad path was Frankie Lymon. Before Uncle Bertell met Frankie Lymon he had a budding career, he had singing engagements, offers for future work, but all that changed once he got involved with Frankie Lymon’s group of friends. Unfortunately for Frankie Lymon, he died of a drug overdose which was what destroyed my Uncle Bertell’s singing career. But with the intervention of several members of my family, uncles, aunts, cousins, and even my grandmother, Uncle Bertell’s mom help straighten him out. Uncle Bertell eventually got married to my Aunt Evelyn which didn’t last too long, but they had produced my late cousin Paul Dash. I remember hearing so much about Uncle Bertell thruout the 1960’s as my mom would talk about his voice and how much she loved him for being so kind to her and welcoming her into his family. I remember seeing Uncle Bertell at several Dash family reunions thruout the 1980’s where cousins or my mom would ask him to sing and he just did it for us but never sang professionally again. Even though Uncle Bertell had his troubles and managed to stay clean for the last 20 years of his life, he eventually died Sept.1st, 1987 at my grandmothers apt in Brooklyn where he moved in with her to live after his divorce from my Aunt Evelyn. Uncle Bertell ran out of blood pressure medicine that day at the same time the elevators were not working in Mama’a projects. he climbed up 11 flights of stairs and being in poor health with high blood pressure collapsed from a burst blood vessel in the brain. By the time paramedics arrived, they too climbing 11 flights of stairs, it was too late. Uncle Bertell was brain dead and gone. With his talent and warm and loving personality he bursts onto the music scene as an up and coming singer back in the late 1950’s thru the early 1960’s. My cousin Ricky has left comments above about Uncle Bertell. If it weren’t for my cousin Ricky Dash notifying my mom Lennie Dash that Uncle Bertell’s unreleased demo recording of “Little Miss Happiness” was on the “Crazy In Alabama cd from 1999 recently, we would never had known. if any of you know how i can get in touch with carol king or gerry goffin i’m sure they would be interested to know that we’re all searching for copies of the songs carol king and gerry goffen wrote for my uncle bertell. my mom told me that carol king and uncle bertel used to go to the beach, coffee houses together and write songs. he and my mom would always meet at the brill bldg in nyc so he could rehearse and meet with neil sedake, carol king, gerry goffin, and don kirshner. Over the last 50 years my mom held onto her only copies of those demo 45’s that Uncle Bertell recorded of Carol King and Gerry Goffen songs they wrote for him. Unfortunately the mono scratchy quality of those 45’s doesn’t compare to the sterophonic sound of digitally remastered CD’s. Thanks to my mom I now have 9 of Uncle Bertell’s songs 1.LISTEN BABY 2.I’M NOT A DECEIVER 3.ALL THE WORLD LOVES A LOVER 4.ANCHORS AWAY GIRL 5.YOU GOTTA HAVE CHICKS 6.DON’T STOP THE WORLD FOR ME 7.LOVE EYES 8. NOT JUST TOMORROW BUT ALWAYS 9.LITTLE MISS HAPPINESS I wish I knew how to download UNcle Bertell’s songs to my computer from the 5 You Tube videos that my cousin Ricky Dash and others have posted on You Tube. I too also want to thank Tom Diehl for sending my cousin Ricky an E mail informing him about the song Little Miss Happiness on the soundtrack cd for Crazy In Alabama and for my mom and cousin Ricky for keeping Uncle Bertell’s name alive and making his beautiful voice available to the world again. If anyone who reads this knows how I can get a cd of Uncle Bertell’s songs let me know. Bertell Dash was his real name. His singing name was Bertell Dache or Dach’e. It has been mispelled as Burt Dache and also listed over the years as Bert Dache and even as Bertelle Dache. But no matter how he was listed he was my Uncle Bertell Dash to me.
Written with Love,
your nephew & godson
Kenny Dash
NYC nightclub performer
June 3, 2010 at 4:04 am
Hi my name is jr and i used to your grandmother and burt”s paper in the L.G. houses and also was Sonny paper boy . I recently was in the area and was informed that he passed away sorry learned how to be a man from him and george. Wow … long time
December 2, 2011 at 9:53 am
Thats some academic article…
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May 28, 2015 at 2:38 am
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