Today In Music History: Andrew Loog Oldham Becomes Rolling Stones' Manager On April 29, 1963
04/29/10 12:36pm
by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)
Publicist Andrew Loog Oldham and his business partner Eric Easton signed a management contract with The Rolling Stones on this day in 1963.
Oldham had previously worked for Brian Epstein in promoting The Beatles, but had received a tip from a journalist who suggested he check out the Stones in April 1963.

Oldham and Easton bought the rights to the Stones' recordings for a mere 90, took over managing the band from Giorgio Gomelsky, and convinced keyboardist Ian Stewart to become the band's road manager instead. (He still played keyboard at the back of the stage.)
Oldham instituted a number of changes to the Stones' sound, music and image, which made them into the band they became in the '60s and, in some ways, still are today.
First, he signed them to Decca, who's spurned The Beatles at an audition earlier that year. He then enlisted The Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man" as the Stones' second single, which they recorded in October of that year.

He also insisted they write their own material, which was something they weren't doing at the time. Singer Mick Jagger then teamed up with guitarist Keith Richards, and the Jagger/Richards songwriting team based in London soon began to rival the Lennon/McCartney one from Liverpool.
Oldham also ensured the Stones had a calculated badass image in an effort to attract attention and publicity and piss off parents. He was responsible for the infamous "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?" publicity campaign and placed blurbs on Stones album covers letting their fans know they should rob blind homeless people.
Oldham sold his management of the Stones to Allen Klein in 1966. Klein went on to manage The Beatles, and it wasn't a good relationship and ended in distrust and lawsuits.
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