![]() ![]() Less than two years later, was the plane crash. They ended up selling the management of Lynyrd Skynyrd to Rudge. “Anytime you get an act as hot as Skynyrd, you’re going to have people try to take them,” Donehoo said. Peter Rudge had been talking with the band since 1973 when they played with a band he managed, The Who. In 1975, when they were opening for the Eagles at the Orange Bowl, the band had a meeting to decide if they wanted to leave Hustlers. “They played with everything under the sun in the ‘70s,” Donehoo said. Skynard turned out to be “a monster” for them. “They blew his socks off,” Donehoo said, noting it was a lot different seeing Skynyrd live than listening to them on tape. Everyone told him he needed to see Lynyrd Skynyrd. Meanwhile, Al Kooper was looking to launch his Sounds of South record label with a good Southern rock band. In 1972, they went back in the studio, cut another album, and once again were told by everyone they didn’t have a band. “It was getting aggravating,” Donehoo said. They cut a finished album in 1971, shopped it again, and it was turned down by everyone again. “But, we knew we had a band,” Donehoo said. ![]() ![]() They shopped the demo to 17 record companies, and every single one told them they didn’t have a band. “It was a pretty good demo,” Donehoo said. They put Lynyrd Skynyrd in the Muscle Shoals studio to cut a demo. A lot were horrible, Donehoo said, but they ended up signing two - Birnum Wood and Lynyrd Skynyrd. So, they put an advertisement in the Jacksonville newspaper and set up a call center for bands to call to set up an audition time.ĭuring auditions, they heard 33 bands. “They had so many gold records on the wall, the wall was covered with gold records, and when they ran out of space on the wall, they leaned the records against the wall on the floor,” Donehoo said.īut, before they got there, they looked into getting a rock and roll band at the advice of Walden’s brother, who was putting together The Allman Brothers Band at the time.Ī guy working out of their office overheard the conversation and told Walden and Donehoo there were a lot of rock and roll bands in Jacksonville, Fla. The studio was where artists including the Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker and Bob Seger had recorded music. “We met some of the most amazing artists over there,” Donehoo said. They closed the Macon business and moved it to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama in 1971. “And our business fell off,” Donehoo said. Through the ‘60s and early ‘70s, rhythm and blues were big for their company, then rock and roll became popular and rhythm and blues fell off. “So, I joined them and Hustlers was born,” Donehoo said, assuring this was before the magazine with the same name, and hustlers were hard workers. Walden and his brother Phil had a huge stable of rhythm and blues artists at the time.įloyd’s management contract was coming to an end, and he and Walden started talking about owning their own management and music publishing company. He kept running into singer Eddie Floyd, who he became friends with, and Alan Walden. “Backed into it, you could say.”Īfter his father suffered an injury, Donehoo returned home to Macon from college at Auburn to help take care of him, and continued his education at Middle Georgia College. ![]() “I kinda fell into the music business,” Donehoo said. Gary Donehoo now lives on a quiet mountain in Sautee, but 50 years ago he was living the highs and lows of a rock and roll manager. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |