Ken Mansfield (October 14, 1937 – November 17, 2022) was an American record producer who was the manager of
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...
in the United States. He was also a high-ranking executive for several record labels, as well as a songwriter, author of seven books and a Grammy and
Dove Award-winning album producer.
From the 1960s, Mansfield was associated with an array of notable performers including
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
,
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...
,
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music.
Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...
,
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
,
Roy Orbison,
Don Ho
Donald Tai Loy Ho (August 13, 1930 – April 14, 2007) was a Hawaiian traditional pop musician, singer and entertainer. He is best known for the song "Tiny Bubbles" from the album of the same name.
Life and career
Ho was a singer of Native ...
,
the Imperials
The Imperials are an American Christian music group that has been active for over 55 years. Originating as a southern gospel quartet, the innovative group would become pioneers of contemporary Christian music in the 1960s. There have been many ...
,
Tompall Glaser
Thomas Paul "Tompall" Glaser (September 3, 1933 – August 12, 2013) was an American outlaw country music artist.
Biography
Glaser was born in Spalding, Nebraska, the son of Alice Harriet Marie (née Davis) and Louis Nicholas Glaser. He was ...
,
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...
,
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting '' The Glen Campbell Good ...
,
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on ...
,
Lou Rawls,
Andy Williams,
The Flying Burrito Brothers
The Flying Burrito Brothers are an American country rock band, best known for their influential 1969 debut album, ''The Gilded Palace of Sin''. Although the group is perhaps best known for its connection to band founders Gram Parsons and Chris ...
,
Eric Burdon
Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, pow ...
,
Badfinger
Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are rec ...
,
Jackie Lomax
John Richard Lomax (10 May 1944 – 15 September 2013) was an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his association with George Harrison, who produced Lomax's recordings for the Beatles' Apple record label in the late 1 ...
,
The Four Freshmen
The Four Freshmen is an American male vocal quartet that blends open-harmonic jazz arrangements with the big band vocal group sounds of The Modernaires, The Pied Pipers, and The Mel-Tones, founded in the barbershop tradition. The singers accom ...
,
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
,
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...
,
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...
,
Nick Gilder
Nicholas George Gilder (born 21 December 1951) is a British-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter.
Biography
Born in Lo ...
,
Claudine Longet
Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer Andy ...
, and
Jessi Colter
Mirriam Johnson (born May 25, 1943), known professionally as Jessi Colter, is an American country singer who is best known for her collaborations with her husband, country musician Waylon Jennings, and for her 1975 country-pop crossover hit "I'm ...
. In the 1970s, he helped popularize the Outlaw movement in country music by producing Waylon Jennings' number one album, ''
Are You Ready for the Country'' as well as the crossover number-one hit "I’m Not Lisa" by Jessi Colter. In 1990 he entered the Gospel Music arena and produced the legendary Imperials' Big God album and in 1991 produced Homecoming, the Gaither Vocal Band's Grammy and Dove Award-winning album. Then in 2000, the former record executive-turned-producer embarked on a literary career with ''The Beatles, The Bible and Bodega Bay'' (Broadman & Holman). His follow-up,
The White Book - The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider's Look at an Era' (Thomas Nelson), was released in 2007. Mansfield's third book, ''Between Wyomings'', (Thomas Nelson), was released on June 9, 2009. His fourth book, ''Stumbling On Open Ground'' (January 15, 2013), is also a Thomas Nelson Publication. Book number five, ''Rock and a Heart Place'' (May 1, 2015), is a Broadstreet Publishing Group, LLC publication. Mansfield penned his sixth book, the novel, "Philco" (May 29, 2018), by Post Hill Press and his seventh book, "The Roof: The Beatles' Final Concert" (November 13, 2018), also by Post Hill Press.
Early life
Mansfield was born in Pennsylvania on October 14, 1937, the son of a sawmill worker and housewife. He grew up in Idaho, in a remote area in the northern panhandle of the state, known as the “Banana Belt” because of the comparatively moderate weather. Soon after graduating from high school, he joined the Navy to leave his small town roots behind.
Upon his discharge from active duty, Mansfield enrolled at the
University of Idaho
The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...
eventually transferring to
San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. His first job was doing computerized cost, budget, and program analysis for the Saturn and Surveyor space programs in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
. At the same time, Mansfield sang with a folk group called The Town Criers and opened a nightclub in San Diego's suburb of
La Mesa. The popular club, called The Land of Oden, was La Mesa’s former City Hall. He also managed the band
The Deep Six.
Capitol Records
Through his music contacts, Mansfield learned of a job opening at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Armed with his marketing degree and a borrowed suit, he was interviewed and then hired in January 1965 as the company's District Promotion Manager West Coast, making him one of the youngest executives with the firm.
Mansfield was promoted quickly and was one of the first young American executives the Beatles worked with since their ascension to stratospheric stardom. Up until then, everyone they met in the executive world outside their isolated and insulated realm was a Lord of EMI (the parent company that owned Capitol Records), a corporate chairman or a high-ranking executive. Mansfield's age made him more accessible to the Beatles, who soon invited him to become a member of their inner sanctum.
In addition to the Beatles, while at Capitol, he was also responsible for overseeing the recording careers of the Beach Boys, Glen Campbell, The Band,
Bobbie Gentry
Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter, who was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material.
Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Sou ...
,
Lou Rawls,
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on ...
,
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...
,
The Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as ...
,
Bob Seger, and the
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1965 in San Francisco. The band achieved wide popularity in the San Francisco Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe, ...
.
Apple Records
In 1967 when the Beatles decided to form their own corporation, they turned to Mansfield to run their record division and named him the U.S. Manager of Apple Records beginning in 1968. Mansfield joined his four new bosses setting up the worldwide launch of Apple Records and the U.S. management of subsequent projects such as ''The Beatles'' (aka ''The White Album''), ''Yellow Submarine'', ''Abbey Road'', ''Let It Be'' and ''Hey Jude''. In addition to the Beatles, Mansfield looked after the careers of Apple artists such as
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
,
Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to Tony Visconti, is a Welsh singer-songwriter best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single "Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists ...
,
Badfinger
Badfinger were a Welsh rock band formed in Swansea, who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s. Their best-known lineup consisted of Pete Ham (vocals, guitar), Mike Gibbins (drums), Tom Evans (bass), and Joey Molland (guitar). They are rec ...
and
Jackie Lomax
John Richard Lomax (10 May 1944 – 15 September 2013) was an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his association with George Harrison, who produced Lomax's recordings for the Beatles' Apple record label in the late 1 ...
.
At the time of the Apple debut, everyone agreed that the Beatles first single on the new label had to be a smash. The group was stymied on whether to release “Hey Jude” or “Revolution” as Apple's first single. “Hey Jude,” which clocked in at an unprecedented 7:11, was the obvious choice. However, it was still the era of the less than three-minute record and Top 40 stations gained listeners by playing the most hits in an hour. Mansfield came up with the solution by bringing an advance copy of the two songs from the UK to America and playing them to a few trusted radio station managers, who were unanimous in their decision that “Hey Jude” was the hit. They were right. When the song was released in September 1968, it topped the ''Billboard'' charts for nine weeks and became the Beatles' best selling single of all time.
In his position as an Apple executive and personal liaison for the Beatles between the UK and US, Mansfield was among a handful of eyewitnesses to join The Beatles as they performed their legendary last-ever gig on the rooftop of their London headquarters on January 30, 1969, which was captured in the Academy Award-winning documentary, ''Let It Be''. Mansfield is easy to recognize as he was the only one on the roof that day wearing a white coat.
When the Apple empire began to crumble, Mansfield turned down an offer by businessman
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased profits ...
to stay despite the promise of his salary being tripled. Mansfield saw the writing on the wall and moved over to
MGM Records as its vice president in charge of marketing and artist relations. Two years later he was hired by Andy Williams to be the president of his CBS record company, Barnaby Records in 1971 - an artist roster that over the years boasted Ray Stevens,
Jimmy Buffett,
the Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 193 ...
,
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...
,
Lenny Welch, and
Claudine Longet
Claudine Georgette Longet (born 29 January 1942) is a Franco-American singer, actress, dancer, and recording artist popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to American singer and television entertainer Andy ...
.
Mansfield's tenure with Barnaby lasted two years (1971–73) chiefly because he wanted to take the label heavy into the emerging contemporary country market, which evolved into the exciting “Outlaw” movement. Williams saw things differently and Mansfield resigned over the dispute.
Record producer
When Mansfield left CBS/Barnaby Records in 1973, he finally fulfilled his longtime career goal of becoming a full-time record producer. He set up Hometown Productions Inc. and went on to produce the acts that he wanted to bring to Barnaby Records – Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, Tompall Glaser and other cutting-edge and Outlaw country artists.
Mansfield's five-year producer tenure with the Outlaws started in 1973 with the hit single "We Had It All" from the classic Waylon Jennings album, ''Honky Tonk Heroes''. Mansfield went on to produce approximately 70 songs for the Outlaws, including Jennings' No. 1 top-selling album ''Are You Ready for the Country'' and No. 1 single "Amanda" from his "Rambling Man" album, “A Couple More Years” with Waylon and Willie, as well as Jessi Colter's No. 1 crossover single, “I’m Not Lisa” and No. 1 albums "I'm Jessi Colter" and "Diamond in the Rough." A series of Top Ten albums and singles produced by Mansfield with both artists found a place on the charts and playlists in country and pop categories. The personal relationship between Jennings and Mansfield grew so close that one time the singer asked Mansfield if it would be OK to list him as next of kin on his emergency medical records.
Mansfield also produced The Flying Burrito Brothers, David Cassidy, Don Ho, Nick Gilder, Sam Neely, Byron Berline and Sundance, as well as David Geffen’s boy band OXO before closing down his Hollywood enterprise Hometown Productions Inc. and making his way to Nashville in the 1980s.
Author
While the 1980s were a decade of prosperity for most Americans, they were not for Mansfield. Facing insurmountable debt, he was financially and spiritually broken when he arrived in Nashville in 1984.
After a born-again experience in the late 1980s, Mansfield rebounded in his personal and professional life. He produced the legendary Imperials and the
Gaither Vocal Band's 1991 album, ''Homecoming''. The Grammy Award-winning album featured a who's who of gospel artists including the Gaither Family,
The Speer Family,
Jake Hess
Jake Hess (December 24, 1927 – January 4, 2004) was an American Grammy Award-winning southern gospel singer.McNeil, W.K., Ed. (2010). ''Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music''. Routledge. . Pp. 201-202.
Life
The son of "a sharecropper who was ...
,
Hovie Lister
Hovie Franklin Lister (September 17, 1926 – December 28, 2001) was an American gospel musician, Baptist Minister, and politician. Lister was best known for his time as the front man of the Statesmen Quartet, perhaps the most well known and reno ...
,
Howard and
Vestal Goodman
Vestal Goodman (December 13, 1929 – December 27, 2003) was a singer who performed in the Southern gospel genre for more than half a century. She was known for her work as a solo performer and as a member of the Happy Goodman Family—which orig ...
,
George Younce,
Glen Payne
Glen Payne (October 20, 1926 – October 15, 1999) served for fifty-five years as a Southern gospel music singer. He is known for being the lead singer of The Cathedral Quartet.
Early years
Payne was a child of the Great Depression. His par ...
,
James Blackwood,
Eva Mae LeFevre, Buck Rambo,
J.D. Sumner,
The Stamps
John Daniel Sumner (November 19, 1924 – November 16, 1998) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and music promoter noted for his bass voice, and his innovation in the Christian and Gospel music fields. Sumner sang in five quartets and wa ...
and Rudy and Larry Gatlin of
The Gatlin Brothers
Larry Wayne Gatlin (born May 2, 1948) is an American country and Southern gospel singer and songwriter. As part of a trio with his younger brothers Steve and Rudy, he achieved considerable success within the country music genre, performing on 3 ...
. In addition, this classic recording received a Dove Award that same year.
The new millennium brought additional creative rewards to Mansfield, who penned ''The Beatles, The Bible and Bodega Bay'' in 2000. Published by Broadman & Holman, the work had three printings and was the only book ever approved by the Beatles (Yoko Ono on John Lennon's behalf) outside their own ''Anthology''. That literary endeavor was followed by ''The White Book, The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insiders Look at an Era'' (
Thomas Nelson) in 2007.
''The White Book'' has been endorsed by many Apple/Beatles related people including The Rolling Stones' Andrew Loog Oldham, Peter Asher, Alan Parsons, Robin Leach, BeatlesandBeyond Radio show presenter Pete Dicks (who worked on the promotional video for the book) and former Apple President
Jack Oliver.
Mansfield's third book, ''Between Wyomings,'' published by Thomas Nelson, was released on June 9, 2009.
''Stumbling on Open Ground'', his fourth, most heavily endorsed and insightful book is also a Thomas Nelson Publishing release (January 15, 2013), and reaches a whole new audience for Ken’s innovative writing approach.
Mansfield published his fifth book, ''Rock and a Heart Place,'' on May 1, 2015. ''Rock and a Heart Place'' has been called “a classic reminder that regardless what messes our family or friends might encounter, the Creator is greater; nobody is beyond hope, and there is no need to give up on anyone!” (Ken Abraham, New York Times bestselling author) and is a must-read for rock aficionados.
In 2018, Mansfield published two books with Post Hill Press, the novel, "Philco" on May 29, 2018, and "The Roof: The Beatles' Final Concert" on November 13, 2018.
Personal life and death
Ken Mansfield died on November 17, 2022, at the age of 85.
References
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* Laurie, Greg and Terrill, Marshall (2017). ''Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon''. American Icon Press. .
* Laurie, Greg and Terrill, Marshall (2019). ''Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon''. Salem Press. .
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* Slash and Bozza, Anthony (2008). ''Slash''. It Books. .
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* Jennings, Terry and Thomas, David (2016). ''Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad''. .
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* Colter Jessi and Ritz David (2017). ''An Outlaw and a Lady''. Thomas Nelson. .
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* Shea, Stuart and Rodriguez, Robert (2007). ''Fab Four FAQ''. Hal Leonard Books. .
* Rodriguez, Robert (2010). ''Fab Four FAQ 2.0''. Backbeat Books. .
* Margotin, Philippe, Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2013). ''All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release''. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers.
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* Wright, W. Timothy (2006) ''Not the Destination: A Spiritual, Musical Journey in the Wright Brothers Band'' .
* Schwensen, Dave (2007) ''The Beatles in Cleveland'' North Shore Publishing. .
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*Clark, Gene (2013). The Byrd Who Flew Alone – DVD - Four Suns Productions
*Andrews, Nancy Lee. (2014). Ringo Starr. Neptune Books. Copyright 2014 Nancy Lee Andrews #281/1000.
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*Best Classic Bands Staff (2022) https://bestclassicbands.com/ken-mansfield-beatles-obituary-rooftop-book-11-18-22/
External links
The Books of Ken Mansfield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mansfield, Ken
1937 births
2022 deaths
Military personnel from Pennsylvania
People from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania
Record producers from Pennsylvania