Sir Tom In the News, What's New, Pussycat?
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Royalties May Be Claimed By The Senators; Tom’s Management Responds
Monday, December 21st, 2009Royalties row for Tom Jones’ backing band
Dec 20 2009/WalesOnline
Tommy Scott and the Senators were photographed on the Roof of Joe Meek's house, 1964.
The Valleys beat group, with whom The Voice shot to fame in the ’60s, say that being erased from the credits of Stateside chart hits like Little Lonely One robbed them of the chance of making it as big abroad as Jones himself.
Former Senators’ bassist Vernon Hopkins revealed that he is now looking into whether or not they are entitled to recoup any loss of potential earnings resulting from being edged out of the spotlight by the legendary Ponty performer.
“We recorded four tracks in London over a couple of sessions with Joe Meek in 1962 – Little Lonely One, That’s What We’ll Do, Lonely Joe and I Was A Fool,” said Vernon, adding that those once fond, but long- forgotten, memories only came flooding back when he was asked to contribute to a recent Radio Two documentary when Tom related his early club years to Gavin & Stacey funnyman Rob Brydon.
“I was listening to it and suddenly there was Little Lonely One playing in the background and it all hit me,” he said.
“I was like: ‘That’s the boys’! It was a very emotional moment.”
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Vernon added that he discovered that the songs had been issued in America by infamous music maestro Meek, who would shoot himself a few years later, as revenge after the band, exhausted by his somewhat eccentric methods – which included waving a gun around in the studio – angrily tore up their contract with him.
“I remember him climbing up on his big white marble mantle-piece to get away from Tom who was going to smack him,” said Vernon.
“He kept shouting about how he’s forked out £18 on us getting photo shots done, so, after Tom had gone off on his own and had a huge hit with It’s Not Unusual, Joe must have grabbed his chance to cash in on it.
“I suppose I must have known about it at the time,” Vernon added.
“But the band was in such a dark place having been so unceremoniously dumped that I suppose we all pushed it to the backs of our brains.”
Under new manager Gordon Mills’ tutelage, Tommy Scott had become solo artist Tom Jones, christened after the hit Albert Finney flick of that year, and the recently re-named The Squires had to find out from the morning papers that their services were no longer required.
“Yet here was Tom on this radio interview using the word ‘we’ all the time – we went to London, we recorded this, we recorded that,” said Vernon. “And that’s exactly how it was.”
But it was the absence of the Senators’ name for the recordings that proved the unkindest cut of all.
“Had we been properly billed then Lord knows what could have happened to us,” said Vernon, currently working on Coal!, a musical based around the history of mining. “Maybe it would have raised our profile, allowed us to forge a path over in the US on our own terms.”
Last night Tom Jones’ management refuted any liability for Hopkins’ claims.
“Basically, we have never received any royalties from these tracks and don’t know who owns them,” said Tom’s daughter-in-law Donna Woodward.
“Therefore we have no control over them or anything that would give us the power to reimburse anyone as we don’t know who owns the copyright. I wish we knew, it would be nice if we did.
“The ex-Senators should go to the PPL which is a non-profit company that champions the rights of performers finding themselves in situations like this. Other than that I guess the only person you could ask is Joe Meek himself, and he ain’t talking,” she said.
December 21st, 2009 at 1:40 am
Looks like Tom is in the thick of things. I wonder if Vernon Hopkins was spurred on by the recent news of Tom,or Tom’s management getting rid of [the US band]. Also,is it possible to claim after all these years? If it is it’s going to take a long time!
December 21st, 2009 at 2:28 am
My apoligies if this response offends anyone but I feel really passionate about Tom.
What a [shameful] act of Vernon Hopkins and the Squires! Shame on him! In the above-mentioned interview for Radio 2, composer Les Reed said himself that the reason they weren’t paid or needed any further is because “they simply weren’t good enough” studio musicians (They had to read a piece of sheet music and play it as they read it according to Les Reed).
Plus, Tom is the one with the talent who was able to further his career to stardom. I think Vernon Hopkins and the Squires are sour that they missed the fame and fortune which Tom rightfully deserves.
Wake-up to yourself Vernon Hopkins.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:57 am
Royalties what Royalties? These records or record were never hits.
its almost 50 gone by, And now they or [just] Vernon Hopkins comes forward as always Just have a look at all the books and shows about TOM you will see that it’s always Vernon Hopkins who is saying bad things about TOM maybe. Tom’s management should look in to getting something done to stop this man from saying bad thing ll the time. This is all down to Mr Meek. It’s got nothing to do with TOM.
December 21st, 2009 at 3:14 am
I know someone who knows Vernon Hopkins i have told him about this he said this is nothing new for Vernon Hopkins He has been saying bad thing about Tom Jones for years now according to him. He always says that he is the one with the talent not TOM he used us to get to where he is now.
December 21st, 2009 at 7:37 am
This is just sour grapes on Vernon Hopkins part.He is still bitter Tom became the SUPERSTAR and he is still stuck in Wales
December 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am
Happy Monday, All: I understand the passion and/or anger some fans may feel at this news but, please, watch your language and take care you are not libeling anyone. Gill, James and Melvyn, as you’ll see I edited your responses. We aren’t there. We don’t know although, to be fair, Gill, I had the same thought about this news and the US band.
As for claiming royalties after all this time, it has been done in the US by artists and, even, by the New York State Attorney General. If the money is owed, is traceable and can be found, it can be done, at least in the USA. Why, in 2004, The New York Times, in a story about then-Attorney General Elliot Spitzer getting royalty money back for artists, reported that Tom Jones got $16,000. Surely not a great deal of money to him but to another, less successful, artist 16K can be a great deal.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:38 am
Funny, theire original singer didn’t wanna sing he simply let his bandmates down one evening, Tom was in town, so they asked tom to help them out..
He performed and then they realised they had a problem, tom was better than theire original singer..they voted and tom was in the band.
(i heard this from the original singer, saying it in a documentary), then they where realy booked to perform in all kinds of places.
If they had real outstanding talent they would have found a new singer. Their drummer Chris Slade became the drummer of AC/DC among others he had real talent.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:55 am
I’m with James Caroma, I remember in the documentary, Les Reed said the guys “weren’t good enough musicians” and he would probably know. Gordon Mills was probably trying to do his best for Tom because he knew he was so talented and who knows what else transpired at that time, we can only speculate. It is kind of odd the whole thing surfaces during the recent band dismissal. Anyway, I don’t have an opinion cause we really don’t know the facts.
December 21st, 2009 at 9:41 am
I agree we don’t know all the facts.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:57 pm
well tom deserves what and where he is today, i think jimmy page played the guitar solo in its not unusual dont hear him complaining bout his 5% cut,do ya know what i mean?If these guys followed there dreams they’d be top of the world too.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I, too, have seen the interviews with Vernon Hopkins and Les Reed. Vernon certainly is bitter. He needs to let it go. Obviously, deep down, he must realize that the Senators/Squires were not that good and it was Tom who gave them any kind of recognition.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I can understand why the old group would want money, there all old now and probably don’t have too much. The other thing they don’t have much of is brains. They should have approached Tom, and proposed that they do a set in his European tour. Where Tom would go back to his roots and do the tunes he did before he made it, with his original band!! It would have been a sensation for all of the fans. Everybody would have loved it including the press. Best of all, the old boys could have made some money.
December 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
How good they were as studio musicians has nothing to do with royalties. If it’s them playing on the recording, they were good enough, and they deserve their share. I don’t know who’s owed what, but saying they don’t get anything because they had to read the music, or do hundreds of takes, or have someone whisper the chords in their ear as they played, means nothing if they were the musicians on the recording. Those are the rules.
Lampie
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
You are very correct, Lampie. But, the fact is that Joe Meek had a very strange and checkered life and career and left a tangled mess when he killed himself so that, almost 43 years after the fact, his business affairs probably still defy sorting out. It’s too bad for anyone and everyone who might have collected.